2026-10-14T03:24:40Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34009332 2026-09-28T05:38:58Z category_173 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Supplementary file 1_After the lights go out: announcement-phase public relational expression and later continuity-oriented responses to an AI agent shutdown in an account-linked longitudinal study of Weibo posts.docx Minyang Ling (25119930) Ju Zou (5719775) Applied Psychology AI discontinuation anthropomorphism human-AI interaction longitudinal digital traces public relational expression social media <p>When an artificial intelligence (AI) agent becomes unavailable, users may seek to preserve its records, recreate its persona, or maintain access through another service. This study examined public discourse surrounding the July 2026 discontinuation of user-built Doubao agents. The event-relevant corpus contained 5,372 Weibo posts; the longitudinal analysis retained 114 accounts contributing 1,719 announcement-phase and 1,779 post-shutdown posts. For each of six response categories, account-level quasibinomial models estimated two specifications relating announcement-phase public relational expression to post-shutdown response prevalence. After correcting for six comparisons, associations were positive for record preservation, persona migration, persona reconstruction, functional substitution, and service-preservation advocacy but not for continued use. After adjusting for announcement-phase prevalence of the corresponding outcome, the associations remained significant for record preservation (odds ratio [OR] = 1.146), persona reconstruction (OR = 1.511), functional substitution (OR = 1.266), and service-preservation advocacy (OR = 1.130) for each 10-percentage-point increase in relational expression. Migration was no longer significant. A separate account-equal fractional logit analysis with HC3 robust standard errors produced positive associations for record preservation (OR = 1.458, p = 0.006), persona reconstruction (OR = 1.281, p = 0.010), functional substitution (OR = 1.383, p = 0.003), and service-preservation advocacy (OR = 1.149, p = 0.012); all four survived correction for six comparisons (q = 0.018). Migration (OR = 1.056, p = 0.407, q = 0.489) and continued use (OR = 1.020, p = 0.843, q = 0.843) were not significant. When the corresponding announcement-phase outcome was included, the same four categories remained significant (q = 0.013, 0.013, 0.013, and 0.031, respectively). Paired-phase comparisons showed lower mean broad adaptation (0.594 versus 0.669) and restricted pooled continuity expression (0.201 versus 0.272) after shutdown, although median within-account changes were zero and the continuity sign test was non-significant (p = 0.219). Among active public participants, announcement-phase relational language was associated most consistently with later record-preservation and persona-reconstruction discourse.</p> 2026-09-28T05:38:58Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1971726.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_file_1_After_the_lights_go_out_announcement-phase_public_relational_expression_and_later_continuity-oriented_responses_to_an_AI_agent_shutdown_in_an_account-linked_longitudinal_study_of_Weibo_posts_docx/34009332 CC BY 4.0