In discussions of human relations with conversational agents (CAs; e.g., voice assistants, AI companions, some social robots), they are increasingly referred to as parasocial. This is a misapplication of the term, heuristically taken up to mean "unreal." In this provocation, I briefly account for the theoretical trajectory of parasociality and detail why it is inaccurate to apply the notion to human interactions with CAs. In short, "parasocial" refers to a human-character relations that are one-sided, non-dialectical, character-governed, imagined, vicarious, predictable, and low-effort; the term has been co-opted to instead refer to relations that are seen as unreal or invalid. The scientific problematics of this misapplication are nontrivial. They lead to oversimplification of complex phenomena, misspecified variables and misdiagnosed effects, and devaluation of human experiences. Those challenges, in turn, have downstream effects on norms and practice. It is scientifically, practically, and ethically imperative to recognize the sociality of human-agent relations.

翻译：在探讨人类与对话代理（如语音助手、AI伴侣、部分社交机器人）关系的讨论中，这类关系日益被定性为准社会交往。这是该术语的误用——人们仅凭经验将其简单理解为"不真实"。本文以批判性视角，首先梳理准社会性的理论脉络，继而详述为何将其应用于人机交互存在根本性谬误。简言之，"准社会"特指人类与媒介角色间单向的、非辩证的、以角色为主导的、想象的、替代性的、可预测且低投入的关系；而该术语现已被挪用为对"不真实或无效关系"的指称。此类误用引发的科学问题不容小觑：它导致复杂现象被过度简化、变量设定失当、效应诊断偏差，以及人类体验的价值被贬低。这些困境进而对规范与实践产生连锁影响。无论从科学、实践还是伦理维度，承认人机关系的社会性都已成为当务之急。