AI Chatbots Offer Better Emotional Support Than Humans for Anger and Fear

A joint study by the University of Manchester and Durham University evaluated the emotional‑support performance of leading AI chatbots—ChatGPT‑4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Gemini 1.5 Pro—against human‑written responses. In five experiments involving 1,233 participants facing everyday setbacks such as missed promotions or messy living spaces, respondents rated AI‑generated messages as more effective at calming anger and fear, especially when the replies included concrete, actionable advice (e.g., breathing exercises, step‑by‑step plans). For sadness‑related scenarios, AI and human responses performed similarly. The researchers stress that the tests were limited to non‑clinical, written interactions and do not replace professional mental‑health care or real‑world companionship.

The findings highlight that AI can provide structured, consistent guidance in low‑stakes emotional contexts, but also caution against over‑reliance on chatbots for serious psychological support.