East Asia embraces AI companions more readily than the West, animism a possible explanation

Cultural beliefs shape our attitudes toward technology in surprisingly deep ways. New research reveals that East Asians display significantly more positive attitudes toward AI companions and robots than Westerners, with fundamental religious and philosophical differences driving this divide. This finding helps explain why humanoid robots and AI chatbots have gained much wider acceptance in Japan and China than in North America, offering important insights for companies developing AI companions for global markets.

The big picture: Recent experiments published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology demonstrate that cultural background significantly influences how people perceive and interact with AI companions and robots.

• Researchers conducted two large-scale experiments comparing attitudes toward social chatbots across East Asian and Western participants.
• Their findings suggest that traditional Eastern religious philosophies, which don’t strictly separate humans from the natural world, may predispose East Asians to view AI technologies more positively.

Key findings: East Asian participants consistently showed more positive attitudes toward AI companions than their Western counterparts.

• Both cultural groups preferred human-human interactions over human-chatbot interactions, but East Asians did so by a much smaller margin.
• East Asian participants were more likely to believe robots possess some degree of consciousness and were generally more inclined to anthropomorphize technology.

Behind the numbers: Religious and philosophical traditions appear to play a crucial role in shaping these cultural differences.

• Traditional Eastern religions like Shintoism and Buddhism have animistic roots that don’t make sharp distinctions between humans and other entities.
• Shintoism maintains that spirits inhabit all life forms and physical objects, while Buddhism asserts that “Buddhahood” can be obtained by anyone or anything.
• These belief systems may predispose East Asians to view AI companions as natural extensions of the world rather than as lifeless machines.

Real-world implications: The research helps explain the dramatic differences in robot and AI companion adoption across different regions.

• In Japan, humanoid robots like Pepper already provide care and emotional support for elderly people.
• China’s AI companion XiaoIce has over half a billion registered users, making it the world’s most popular social chatbot.
• Western markets have shown comparatively less enthusiasm for similar technologies.

Why this matters: As AI companions become increasingly sophisticated, understanding these cultural differences will be crucial for developers and companies seeking global adoption of their technologies.

• AI companion designers may need different approaches when creating products for Eastern versus Western markets.
• Cultural sensitivity around how AI entities are presented and positioned could significantly impact user acceptance and engagement.