The field has been missing a shared definition, until now. Together with our team member Lisa Mühl and Tanja Schneeberger, our team lead Dr. Jessica Szczuka introduces “Intimacy by Design,” a new framework that bridges technological design features and psychological mechanisms to explain how AI systems are deliberately engineered to foster intimacy.
The framework consists of six dimensions: emotional responsiveness (how AI responds to emotions and self-disclosure), romantic framing (how AI is positioned as a potential romantic partner), sexual affordances (which forms of sexual interaction are enabled or constrained), persona continuity (how systems create a coherent identity through memories, preferences, and an apparent inner life), proactive engagement (how AI initiates emotionally meaningful interactions), and commercial and normative structuring (how monetization and design decisions shape concepts of love, gender, sexuality, and intimacy).
Importantly, Intimacy by Design isn’t limited to romantic or sexual AI companions, by focusing on the remaining dimensions, the framework can also be applied to emotionally responsive AI systems more broadly.
Beyond the definition, the paper outlines an interdisciplinary research agenda spanning psychology, HCI, computer science, law, and ethics, addressing key challenges including vulnerability, privacy, commercialization, and the societal implications of AI systems designed for intimacy.
We hope Intimacy by Design provides researchers with a shared language, inspires interdisciplinary collaboration, and helps build a more cumulative science of intimate human-AI interaction.
Read the paper here: springer.com
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