Possibility, Peril, and Phenomenology

15 - Possibility, Peril, and Phenomenology

A Developmental Lens on Artificial Intelligence’s Influence on Young People

from Part IV - Specific World Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2026

Gabriel Velez

Edited by

Robert J. Sternberg ,

Séamus A. Power and

Fathali M. Moghaddam

Show author details

Robert J. Sternberg: Affiliation:
Cornell University
Séamus A. Power: Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
Fathali M. Moghaddam: Affiliation:
Georgetown University

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Summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been heralded as a new revolution, while also being vilified as destroying critical thinking and creativity and dismissed as overhyped technology. Its growing presence in young people’s lives, however, is undeniable. While AI is cutting-edge and its future is uncertain, we can draw on developmental psychology to think more clearly about how it may influence young people’s growth and trajectories. In this chapter, I argue for using developmental theory and integrative methods focused on how young people make meaning as a flexible, ecologically valid, and valuable approach to better understanding these implications.

Keywords

artificial intelligence psychosocial development education meaning-making agency identity ecological systems theory

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Psychology of Serious Everyday World Problems , pp. 348 - 369

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009886338 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2026

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