{"id":8717,"date":"2025-12-08T15:29:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/?p=8717"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:30:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:30:40","slug":"faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty Insights: Understanding the Rise of AI-Based Emotional Support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A recent Yahoo Life<\/em> article<\/a> examines emerging trends in the use of AI tools for emotional support and companionship, noting that approximately 6% of Americans report they could see themselves engaging with \u2014 or already have engaged with \u2014 AI in this way. The piece features insights from Zilber College of Public Health Associate Professor Linnea Laestadius, PhD, MPP, who provides important context on the social and behavioral implications of forming connections with AI systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article<\/a> to learn more about how these technologies are shaping human interaction and what this may mean for public health research and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent Yahoo Life article examines emerging trends in the use of AI tools for emotional support and companionship, noting that approximately 6% of Americans report they could see themselves engaging with \u2014 or already have engaged with \u2014 AI …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":8719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[65,38,44,37,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","category-news","category-research","category-spotlight","category-zilber-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nZilber College of Public Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent Yahoo Life article examines emerging trends in the use of AI tools for emotional support and companionship.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faculty Insights: Understanding the Rise of AI-Based Emotional Support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A recent Yahoo Life article examines emerging trends in the use of AI tools for emotional support and companionship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zilber College of Public Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T21:29:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T21:30:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2025\/12\/Faculty-Insights-Linnea-Laestadius.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Lyn Schanen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole Lyn Schanen\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicole Lyn Schanen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/91077c3ca3a969679f02442e17e7b371\"},\"headline\":\"Faculty Insights: Understanding the Rise of AI-Based Emotional Support\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-08T21:29:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-08T21:30:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":107,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Faculty-Insights-Linnea-Laestadius.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Faculty & Staff\",\"News\",\"Research\",\"Spotlight\",\"Zilber in the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/faculty-insight-understanding-the-rise-of-ai-based-emotional-support\\\/\",\"name\":\"Faculty Insights: Understanding the Rise of AI-Based Emotional Support - 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