I wanted it to feel more personal: Customization of social AI as AI individualism in practice
Despite the growing availability of customizable social artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, Grok, and Character.ai, we know little about how users actively shape social AI to reflect their personal preferences. This study examines why and how users (N = 169) customize social AI through the lens of the newly developed concept of AI individualism. Through reflexive thematic analysis of open-ended responses, we identified several motivations for customization, including (1) enhanced pragmatic support, (2) emotional support or companionship, (3) trust and reliability, (4) pushback, (5) a tailored degree of human likeness, (6) creativity or playfulness, and (7) having the AI functio...
| Authors | Marita Skjuve, Anna Grøndal Larsen, Asbjørn Følstad et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.HC |
| Published | 20 July 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 20 July 2026 |
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