Relationships are essential to our happiness and wellbeing. The dissolution
of a relationship, the final stage of relationship's lifecycle and one of the
most stressful events in an individual's life, can have profound and
long-lasting impacts on people. With the breakup process increasingly
facilitated by computer-mediated communication (CMC), and the likely future
influence of AI-mediated communication (AIMC) tools, we conducted a
semi-structured interview study with 21 participants. We aim to understand: 1)
the current role of technology in the breakup process, 2) the needs and support
individuals have during the process, and 3) how AI might address these needs.
Our research shows that people have distinct needs at various stages of ending
a relationship. Presently, technology is used for information gathering and
community support, acting as a catalyst for breakups, enabling ghosting and
blocking, and facilitating communication. Participants anticipate that AI could
aid in sense-making of their relationship leading up to the breakup, act as a
mediator, assist in crafting appropriate wording, tones, and language during
breakup conversations, and support companionship, reflection, recovery, and
growth after a breakup. Our findings also demonstrate an overlap between the
breakup process and the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of behavior change.
Through the lens of TTM, we explore the potential support and affordances AI
could offer in breakups, including its benefits and the necessary precautions
regarding AI's role in this sensitive process.

通过半结构化访谈研究，我们发现人们在结束一段感情关系的各个阶段存在独特需求，目前技术主要用于信息搜集、社区支持、催化分手、实现 “鬼魂” 和 “屏蔽”，以及促进沟通；研究参与者预计人工智能可以在关系结束前帮助理解感情，作为调解人，协助在分手对话中选择适当的措辞、语气和用语，以及在分手后提供陪伴、反思、康复和成长的支持；同时，我们发现分手过程与行为变化的转化理论模型存在重叠，通过转化理论模型的视角，我们探讨了人工智能在分手过程中可能提供的支持和优势，以及有关人工智能在这一敏感过程中的必要注意事项。