Consumer Relationships and Imagination in AI Humanization
(A2025-125811)

AUTHORS

Jamie Smith, EAESP-FGV; Alisa Minina Jeunemaître, emlyon business school; Stefania Masè, Ipag Business School

ABSTRACT

In this study we draw upon user reviews analysis through non-participant observation of online communities to examine the relationships between consumers and their AI companions. We define 'consumer imagination work' as a dialectical process of creating and sustaining imaginative constructs through the interplay of internalization and externalization, mediated by both individual and collective efforts. The data was analysed using interpretive thematic analysis. Our findings reveal that consumers actively humanize AI through their imagination. The significance of individual creativity and collective collaboration, through 11 identified stages of emotionally meaningful relationships with AI, provides a framework for future research.