Should we express gratitude in human–AI interaction: The online public’s moral stance toward artificial intelligence assistants in China

The ethical dimensions of human–AI (artificial intelligence) interaction demand attention. As artificial intelligence assistants become more anthropomorphized, will the public interact with AI as humans morally? This study applied content analysis to data from an online question-and-answer platform in China ( N = 287) to explore the public’s judgments of gratitude toward artificial intelligence assistants. The findings revealed the majority supports expressing gratitude, while a significant minority disagrees, indicating diverse ethical judgments. By further analyzing people’s reasoning, this study found that supporters attribute gratitude to moral autonomy driven by virtue ethics, moral responsibility for responsible AI, and the perceived source identity of anthropomorphized AI as human, aligning with the Computers-are-Social-Actors paradigm. In contrast, opponents doubt AI’s moral agency, highlighting the perceived source of AI as machines, and they judge that treating it with human manners is useless and potentially dangerous. These insights enhance the understanding of the public’s view of ethical considerations regarding AI assistants, contribute to gratitude research in the context of human–AI interaction, extend the moral dimension of the Computers-are-Social-Actors paradigm, and emphasize the importance of moral and responsible AI use. Suggestions for future research based on the exploratory findings are also discussed.