The Relationship Between the Mental Ill-Being of Youth and a Question They Wish to Ask the Artificial Intelligence. The Exploratory Study

The emergence of conversational artificial agents facilitates the process of seeking knowledge. Nevertheless, very little is known about what young people want to learn from artificial intelligence in general. Earlier research on the youth’s internet behaviour showed that young people suffering from anxiety disorders or generally low mental well-being are looking for the solutions to their problems online. It was suspected that young people may try to obtain such answers also from artificial conversational agents. Using Maslow’s concept of needs, a study was conducted on 402 young people aged 9–14, in which they were asked for what question they would like the artificial intelligence responds to. The results show that young people choosing questions related to both psychological and safety needs had lower mental ill-being than those asking for love and belonging as well as esteem. Moreover, the youth trying to find an answer for love and belonging-related issues and those related to esteem had higher mental ill-being than those asking for self-actualization, and personal interests. The findings of exploratory research is used to delineate the contribution to practice, and further research proposal.