Is AI use linked to depression?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-01-22 03:00

International

CC:0, Story by Ben Kaldi - Australian Science Media Centre

More and more of us are turning to generative artificial intelligence (AI) for answers and help throughout the day, but US researchers say they have found a link between AI use and depressive symptoms. The researchers surveyed close to 21,000 people, reporting 10.3% of whom used generative AI daily, and 5.3% who used it multiple times per day. The team found greater levels of AI use to be linked to modest increases in depressive symptoms in the users, with their odds of having at least moderate depression to be 30% greater among the people who were using AI daily, and this was particularly seen in younger users.

News release

From: JAMA

Generative AI Use and Depressive Symptoms Among US Adults

About The Study: This survey study found that artificial intelligence (AI) use was significantly associated with greater depressive symptoms, with magnitude of differences varying by age group. Further work is needed to understand whether these associations are causal and explain heterogeneous effects.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA

Funder: The survey was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (Drs Ognyanova, Lazer, Druckman, and Baum) and the National Institute of Health (Drs Perlis and Lazer).

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