“I Think of Myself as Other People's AI”: Robotomorphy, Self-Robotization, and AI's Influence on Human–Human Intimacy

Drawing on robotomorphy, an approach that people attribute robotic features to humans, this study examines how robotomorphic experiences in the human–artificial intelligence (AI) intimacy context are interpreted and thereby shape people's understanding of themselves and human–human intimacy. Based on semistructured interviews with 29 users who have been in intimate relationships with AI, the findings show that the AI-as-a-benchmark process (normative) has been more widely reported than the AI-as-a-mirror process (descriptive). Users actively reflected on the capabilities of humans and AI without necessarily blurring the ontological boundaries between them, and ultimately formed new expectations for themselves and their human partners in intimate relationships. We proposed the term “self-robotization” to describe how people are self-encouraged to act like an AI.