Promoting Wellbeing with Sunny, a Chatbot that Facilitates Positive Messages within Social Groups

A Facebook Messenger chatbot, Sunny, was designed and deployed to promote positive social connections and enhance psychological wellbeing. A 10-day study was conducted with three pre-existing social groups of four members each in control (n=12) and experimental groups (n=12). Both groups completed initial assessments and daily reports, and the experimental groups interacted with Sunny. Exit interviews indicated three key themes: 1) Sunny prompted self-reflection, boosting participants' senses of self-worth and the depth of their relationships, 2) using Sunny encouraged participants to send heartfelt messages they would not have shared otherwise, 3) participants enjoyed accessing positive messages "on-demand". Experimental groups showed an average increase in psychological wellbeing of 1.73 (std = 6.08), compared to 0.5 (std = 5.94) in control. Our results suggest that an AI-based chatbot like Sunny could provide preventative care, promoting strong social connections and psychological wellbeing.