Coming of Age With Generative Artificial Intelligence: The High Stakes of Automating Adolescent Development.

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly transforming the context in which adolescents develop, presenting both opportunities and risks. Adolescence is a sensitive life period during which the accomplishment of key psychosocial developmental tasks-including social belonging, emotion regulation, autonomy, and identity formation-leads to lifelong consequences. Here, we synthesize interdisciplinary research on how adolescents' use of GenAI chatbots such as ChatGPT may have unique impacts during this life stage. Although GenAI may provide low-stakes opportunities to simulate social interactions, scaffold emotional regulation, and support identity exploration in some contexts, it also threatens to displace or thwart essential developmental experiences. Risks include increasing social isolation, undermining distress tolerance, distorting expectations for human relationships, compromising identity and purpose development, and exposing youth to biased, inaccurate, or sexually inappropriate content. We call for a developmental science framework to guide future research, technology design, and policy. Longitudinal studies are needed-especially those that examine specific use cases, address all domains of development holistically, account for varying levels of vulnerability across stages and populations of adolescence, leverage interdisciplinary and academic-industry partnerships, and incorporate the perspectives of youth. As adolescents increasingly integrate GenAI into their daily lives, we must urgently address how these tools are shaping their transition to adulthood.