A group of researchers have recently published a study about the links between AI usage and mental health effects. Artificial Intelligence only entered the world scene a few years ago, but it quickly became a mainstay in many people’s lives. It serves as a valuable tool at times, from searching up new recipes to organizing tables for work, it can help out with almost every task. The researchers of this study analyzed the data that they received from questionnaires from 20,857 adult participants from all 50 states in order to discover the effects of AI on mental health.
As part of the survey, all the participants were asked how often they use artificial intelligence technology or products. The possible responses were never, once or twice, once a month, once a week, multiple times a week, every day, and multiple times a day. The participants were also asked whether it was for personal use, work, or school. The questionnaire also contained mental health questions about depressive symptoms. All of the participants were over 18 years old, and the data was well-balanced, containing participants from a range of age groups, ethnicities, genders, and states.
The analysis of the data showed that 10.3% of the participants used AI every day, and 5.3% used it multiple times a day. For these daily users, around half of them used it for work, 11.4% used it for school, and 87.1% of them used it for personal reasons. Those who used AI the most were more likely to be younger, male, have a higher level of education, have a higher household income, and have an urban rather than rural household location.
The odds of moderate depression (the point at which clinicians typically recommend evaluation and/or treatment) for those who used AI daily were 30% greater than those with limited AI use. A similar pattern was seen in anxiety and irritability. The researchers also found that the link to these mental health problems was only significant for personal usage, rather than for work or for school. More depressive symptoms were typically seen in the 25-44 and the 45-64 age groups, but there was no association with the gender of the user.
The findings of this study do have limitations and more questions arise than answers are provided. The researchers hypothesize that certain forms of AI usage are more detrimental than others, but currently do not know which ones they are. More research is certainly needed in this area to truly discover the linkage between AI use and mental health, but the results of the study demonstrate that certain forms of AI can lead to depressive symptoms.
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