Relational Dissonance in Human-AI Interactions: The Case of Knowledge Work

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15836v1
• Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2025 10:15:55 GMT
• Title: Relational Dissonance in Human-AI Interactions: The Case of Knowledge Work
• Authors: Emrecan Gulay, Eleonora Picco, Enrico Glerean, Corinna Coupette,
• Abstract summary: We find that fundamental ontological and relational ambiguities inherent in anthropomorphic conversational agents make it difficult for individuals to maintain consistent relational stances toward them.<n>Our findings indicate that people's articulated positioning toward such agents often differs from the relational dynamics that occur during interactions.<n>We propose the concept of relational dissonance to help researchers, designers, and policymakers recognize the resulting tensions.
• Score: 4.678160092569168
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: When AI systems allow human-like communication, they elicit increasingly complex relational responses. Knowledge workers face a particular challenge: They approach these systems as tools while interacting with them in ways that resemble human social interaction. To understand the relational contexts that arise when humans engage with anthropomorphic conversational agents, we need to expand existing human-computer interaction frameworks. Through three workshops with qualitative researchers, we found that the fundamental ontological and relational ambiguities inherent in anthropomorphic conversational agents make it difficult for individuals to maintain consistent relational stances toward them. Our findings indicate that people's articulated positioning toward such agents often differs from the relational dynamics that occur during interactions. We propose the concept of relational dissonance to help researchers, designers, and policymakers recognize the resulting tensions in the development, deployment, and governance of anthropomorphic conversational agents and address the need for relational transparency.

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