Cross-cultural professional relationships often require complex emotional navigation, as individuals interpret interpersonal cues through culturally shaped norms of communication, hierarchy, and emotional expression. Such contexts can generate interpersonal ambiguity, emotional overwhelm, and uncertainty that professionals may be reluctant to articulate openly due to concerns about evaluation, facework, or cultural misalignment. Against this backdrop, an increasing number of professionals report turning to large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, for emotional clarification when managing cross-cultural work interactions.


Using reflective narrative accounts and a qualitative thematic approach, this study identifies key psychological motives for seeking AI-mediated support: the need for a non-judgmental space, the absence of culturally attuned guidance within professional hierarchies, and the desire to process emotionally charged events without compromising workplace relationships. Four emergent functions of ChatGPT were identified: (1) generating culturally neutral interpretations of ambiguous interpersonal events; (2) supporting emotional articulation and meaning-making; (3) enabling cognitive reframing through structured, low-pressure dialogue; and (4) facilitating emotional regulation by slowing down reactive responses and promoting reflective distance.


Rather than serving as a therapeutic agent, ChatGPT operates as a non-clinical reflective companion that helps users surface underlying needs and implicit cultural assumptions in their professional interactions. This work contributes to applied psychology by proposing AI-mediated reflection as an emerging tool for emotion regulation, intercultural competence development, and workplace wellbeing. Implications for digital mental-health tools, cross-cultural communication training, and the ethical use of AI in emotionally sensitive professional contexts are discussed.