Advents of new technology have transformed how we currently view and use artificial intelligence (AI). Originally, AI was first developed to assist humans to complete tasks, but AI now takes on more social roles, such as functioning as a companion. However, little is known about how individuals view these different types of AI. Thus, the present study conducted an online experiment to explore people’s perceptions about social AI vs. functional AI. Primary results suggest that individuals have more positive attitudes toward functional AI than social AI. Perceived usefulness of AI is found to have a mediation effect, suggesting functional AI, compared to social AI, leads to stronger perceived usefulness, which consequently fosters more positive attitudes and stronger perceived realism of AI. The results collectively suggest meaningful implications for human-AI communication and human–machine communication research.

新技术的出现改变了我们目前看待和使用人工智能 (AI) 的方式。最初，人工智能最初是为了帮助人类完成任务而开发的，但人工智能现在承担了更多的社会角色，例如充当伴侣。然而，人们对这些不同类型的人工智能的看法知之甚少。因此，本研究进行了一项在线实验，以探索人们对社交 AI 与功能性 AI 的看法。主要结果表明，个人对功能性人工智能的态度比社交人工智能更积极。发现人工智能的感知有用性具有中介作用，表明与社交人工智能相比，功能性人工智能导致更强的感知有用性，从而培养更积极的态度和更强的人工智能感知现实主义。