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：在探讨人类与对话智能体（CAs；例如语音助手、人工智能伴侣、部分社交机器人）的关系时，这些关系越来越被称作"准社会交往"。这是对该术语的误用，该词被启发式地理解为"非真实"。在此篇议论性文章中，我简要阐述了准社会交往的理论脉络，并详细说明为何将其应用于人类与对话智能体的互动是不准确的。简而言之，"准社会交往"指人类与角色之间单向、非辩证、受角色主导、想象性、替代性、可预知且低付出的人际-角色关系；该术语已被挪用至指代被视为非真实或无效的关系。这种误用带来的科学问题不容小觑。它导致对复杂现象的过度简化、变量设定错误和效应误判，以及对人类体验的贬低。这些挑战进而对规范和实践产生连锁影响。因此，从科学、实践和伦理层面，承认人与智能体关系的社会性势在必行。