---
id: "concept-relationship-functions-inventory"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ How People Relate to Bots"]
tags: ["measurement", "social-support", "organizational-psychology"]
related: ["claim-ai-social-support-widespread", "framework-ai-relationship-functions", "concept-ai-anthropomorphism"]
definition: "An adapted psychological scale measuring how employees use AI for four forms of nontask social support: career help, personal growth, friendship, and emotional support."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-sig-53-ai-personal-support-risky"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/employees-are-relying-on-ai-for-personal-support-thats-risky"
sourceTitle: "Employees Are Relying on AI for Personal Support. That’s Risky."
---
# AI Relationship Functions Inventory

The AI Relationship Functions Inventory is adapted from the **Relationship Functions Inventory** originally developed by researchers **Amy Colbert, Joyce Bono, and Radostina Purvanova** to measure human-to-human workplace support. The authors applied the same four dimensions of *nontask* support to human–AI interactions.

The four dimensions are:
1. **Career development** — identifying opportunities, navigating promotions.
2. **Personal growth** — developing life skills, patience, problem-solving.
3. **Friendship** — enjoying interaction, feeling less alone.
4. **Emotional support** — coping with stress, venting, seeking empathy.

Modifying the original inventory to assess whether employees were turning to AI for these functions, the authors found that **74%** of participants used AI for at least one of these social support categories. This adaptation highlights a paradigm shift in which non-task, psychosocial workplace needs are being outsourced to algorithms.

The operationalized results are recorded in [[claim-ai-social-support-widespread]] and the four dimensions are laid out as a taxonomy in [[framework-ai-relationship-functions]]. The scale is the measurement instrument behind [[concept-ai-anthropomorphism]].

**Enrichment context:** The adaptation is novel but built on established organizational-psychology scales; the original Colbert/Bono/Purvanova work confirms human coworkers provide exactly these categories of nontask support. Independent corroboration comes from Workday's 2026 global study, where 76% used AI to get advice, 52% to brainstorm, and 37% for companionship.