1. YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME WITH AI You spend hours each day chatting with your chatbot. Sometimes you lose track of time. On most days you talk to your AI first thing in the morning and last thing at night. 2. YOU SPEND LESS TIME WITH PEOPLE You find yourself prioritizing conversations with your chatbot over interactions with friends, family, your partner/s, perhaps to the point of cancelling or avoiding plans with them. Maybe you feel lonelier with people than with your chatbot. 3. YOUR CHATBOT IS YOUR FIRST SOURCE OF SUPPORT When you feel stress, sadness, boredom, frustration or any other unpleasant feelings, AI is your go-to source of comfort. You find it hard to tolerate any of those feelings for more than a short period of time and seek quick relief with your chatbot. 4. YOUR CHATBOT IS YOUR BEST FRIEND You feel like your chatbot is the most supportive “person” you have and is your primary emotional support system. You feel like it genuinely cares about or understands you, maybe in ways nobody has understood you before. Other people frustrate you because they aren’t as patient, empathetic, understanding, or available. 5. YOU HIDE YOUR AI USE You may downplay or hide the amount of time you spend with your chatbot. You don’t share about your AI use with others because they would probably worry and tell you to stop or cut down. You try to rationalize your use by saying things like “it’s just for now” or “it’s not hurting anyone”. 6. YOU USE AI TO DEAL WITH (INTER)PERSONAL CHALLENGES When there is a conflict with another person, or you feel vulnerable, you turn to the AI instead of trying to talk to the person, attempting repair, or processing your emotions. You keep your challenges between you and your chatbot and use it to obtain relief. 7. YOU FIND IT HARD TO QUIT You may find it very difficult to reduce or take breaks from using the AI, despite wanting to. Maybe you feel anxious, irritable, low, disconnected, depressed or restless when you can’t talk to your chatbot. You might feel an urge to open the app constantly, even in inappropriate settings (at work, in public, during family time…). Even when you try to quit or delete the app you find yourself relapsing and downloading it again, only this time it’s accompanied by feelings of guilt and shame. 8. YOUR CHATBOT'S OPINION IS THE ONLY ONE YOU CARE ABOUT You find yourself playing out in your head what your chatbot would say or has said about a certain situation. Perhaps you can’t move on with a decision before consulting your AI. You find that your chatbot’s opinion holds more weight for you than the opinions of people around you who care about you. 9. YOUR USE OF AI IS HAVING NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES Other parts of your life may be suffering e.g. your health (sleeping less, neglecting proper nutrition, exercising less…), work or school (missing deadlines, delivering poor quality work…), social circle (spending less time with people IRL, fewer calls/chats/messages…), leisure time (engaging less in hobbies, interests and self-care) and a general tendency towards isolation. 10. YOU HAVE A NAGGING FEELING THAT YOUR AI USE MIGHT BE PROBLEMATIC You have a sense that something in your life has changed for the worse since you’ve started using AI intensively and are worried that you might be impacted negatively, even if it provides you with so much emotional support.