From Psychological Need Satisfaction to AI Dependency: The Divergent Roles of Basic and AI-Specific Needs

The rapid diffusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming everyday practices, raising concerns about emerging forms of excessive use and technological dependency. The present study, based on an online questionnaire with 306 participants aged 18–30, examined how the satisfaction of psychological needs relates to AI dependency. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), need satisfaction was assessed both in everyday life and in the context of AI use, alongside a measure of AI dependency. Relationships among variables were examined using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results revealed a contrasting pattern: basic psychological need satisfaction was negatively associated with AI dependency, whereas AI-specific need satisfaction showed a strong positive association. These findings suggest that generative AI may function not only as a compensatory resource for unmet needs, but also as a primary context for need satisfaction, thereby reinforcing dependency-related patterns of use. Contrary to expectations, the association between basic and AI-specific needs was weak, indicating that the two constructs operate as partially independent processes. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between basic and context-specific need satisfaction in understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying AI dependency.