How workplace AI feedback shapes AI dependency: A randomized controlled trial on the moderating role of workplace social support among Japanese office workers
Yasushi Watanabe, Masataka Nakayama, Kosuke Takemura, Yukiko Uchida · Computers in Human Behavior Artificial Humans · 2026
AI dependency—habitual, automatic AI use accompanied by diminished autonomy—is a growing concern in the workplace, yet the conditions under which it develops remain poorly understood. Two competing pathways have been proposed. Users with limited social support from colleagues may compensate for this deficit by depending on AI (the compensatory pathway ), or users with abundant support may be better positioned to leverage AI interaction, thereby fostering dependency (the enhancement pathway ). To test these pathways, we analyzed data from a 5-day randomized controlled trial with 294 Japanese office workers. Participants engaged in daily work-reflection sessions with an AI chatbot. Depending on condition, the chatbot delivered positive feedback emphasizing strengths, negative feedback highlighting areas for improvement, or no work-related feedback (control). AI dependency was measured one week after the final session, revealing two qualitatively distinct patterns based on feedback valence. Positive feedback increased AI dependency regardless of workplace social support levels, suggesting that positive reinforcement from AI functions as a general pathway to dependency. In contrast, negative feedback did not increase AI dependency overall but did so selectively among participants with abundant social support, which is consistent with the enhancement pathway. These findings are qualified by the short-term, self-reported outcome, the exploratory and non-preregistered analysis, the modest size of the focal interaction, and the crowdsourced Japanese sample, which limits their generalizability. Within these bounds, they indicate that AI dependency is not simply a function of AI characteristics but emerges from the interaction between AI feedback and employees' existing workplace relationships.