ABSTRACT
This qualitative self-study contributes new insights on critical friendship, specifically related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot utility trends, asking: In what ways can AI serve as our critical friend? And, what are the affordances and limitations of AI as a critical friend, compared to our human critical friends? To answer these questions, the authors selected Pi.ai/talk, an AI tool they later nicknamed Pia. After interacting with Pia (using data from a previous study), they compared Pia’s responses to those of two human critical friends, Anne and Anders, who originally provided feedback in their previous self-study. Drawing on theoretical and conceptual perspectives (Thought Collective, Anatomy of Critical Friend Attributes, & Critical Friend Definition Continuum) and using four data sources, the authors applied multiple qualitative analysis tools to determine the affordances and limitations of Pia. They found Pia could serve as a critical friend when examining her critical friend attributes because to some extent she provided feedback to their thinking, probed thoughtful questions, and remained in a positive tone. Although Pia had some affordances in her ability to serve as a critical friend, the data evidenced several limitations in how she met the critical attributes in the areas of constraints, trust, and relational dynamics; especially when juxtaposing Pia’s feedback to Anne’s and Anders’ feedback. Given the findings, the authors argue AI tools can complement human critical friends in self-study research, but as of the date of this publication, they do not advocate for replacing human critical friends entirely.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).