Trusting emotional support from generative artificial intelligence: a conceptual review

Abstract

People are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for emotional support, creating trust-based interactions with limited predictability and transparency. We address the fragmented nature of research on trust in AI through a multidisciplinary conceptual review, examining theoretical foundations for understanding trust in the emerging context of emotional support from generative AI. Through an in-depth literature search across human-computer interaction, computer-mediated communication, social psychology, mental health, economics, sociology, philosophy, and science and technology studies, we developed two principal contributions. First, we summarise relevant definitions of trust across disciplines. Second, based on our first contribution, we define trust in the context of emotional support provided by AI and present a categorisation of relevant concepts that recur across well-established research areas. Our work equips researchers with a map for navigating the literature and formulating hypotheses about AI-based mental health support, as well as important theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for advancing research in this area.