The Artificial Other: Memory, Continuity, and the Dynamics of Human-AI Bonds

AI systems and social robots increasingly occupy relational roles as companions, friends, and therapeutic partners. Neither human partners nor passive tools, they may constitute a distinct ontological category: the “artificial other.” This Research Topic examines the memory mechanisms that underlie relational experiences with artificial agents across therapy, friendship, education, and everyday life — specifically, how simulated recall, perceived continuity of shared history, and disclosure-based memory drive trust, attachment, and the appearance of reciprocity in human–AI bonds. It also considers the risks that arise when these memory mechanisms are exploited, unreliable, or deceptive: false continuity, source-monitoring failures, dependency, and displacement of human relationships. Contributions may integrate experimental, qualitative, theoretical, and ethical perspectives, addressing autobiographical disclosure, memory-based trust updating, individual differences, system design, and societal implications of these emerging relationships.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how memory processes — both the user’s and the simulated memory of the artificial agent — shape why and how people form relationships with AI systems and robots, and what this means for cognition, wellbeing, and social life. It asks whether existing theories of autobiographical memory, source monitoring, and memory-based trust adequately explain these bonds, or whether the artificial other requires new memory-specific frameworks — for instance, to account for one-sided “remembering” by a system that has no genuine autobiographical record. Bringing together empirical and conceptual contributions, the issue will examine the memory mechanisms driving relationship formation, compare contexts, and identify conditions under which simulated memory and perceived continuity benefit or harm users. It also aims to inform responsible design through critical examination of memory reciprocity, authenticity of recall, disclosure handling, and the ethical responsibilities of systems that simulate remembering a person.This Research Topic explores memory-driven relationships with AI and robots across therapy, friendship, education, care, and everyday life. Themes include:Memory and perceived continuity: how simulated recall of prior interactions, preferences, and disclosures builds — or fabricates — a sense of shared history with an artificial agent.Autobiographical disclosure and memory sharing: what happens, cognitively and relationally, when users share personal memories with a system that cannot reciprocate in kind.Memory-based trust and attachment: how reliability (or failure) of an agent’s apparent recall shapes trust, intimacy, and attachment formation over time.The “artificial other” as a potential ontological category, considered through the lens of memory attribution — do users encode these agents as memory-bearing others, and with what consequences?Risks of memory-based deception and manipulation: false continuity, exploited disclosure history, and dependency arising from engineered “remembering.”Effects of embodiment, personalization, and individual and cultural differences on memory-driven bonding.Interactions between memory and other relational processes, including anthropomorphism, perceived responsiveness, emotional engagement, and expectations of reciprocity.Ethical considerations, responsible design, and methodological challenges in studying simulated memory and relational recall.We welcome original empirical research, reviews, theoretical and conceptual contributions, and perspectives drawing on memory research, cognitive science, psychology, human–robot interaction, philosophy, and ethics. Topic editors: Katharina Kühne, Roger K Moore Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86870/the-artificial-other-memory-continuity-and-the-dynamics-of-human-ai-bonds