Wellbeing and AI Technologies: a systematic review of literature

One of the most changing industries in the past decades is undoubtedly technology development, and the emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools as more recent advances, are continuously transforming how people and organizations communicate, work, and create. This incremental change raises questions regarding AI’s impact on human wellbeing. Although other technologies such as email, mobile devices, and social media have been studied to understand the physical and psychological consequences, empirical studies on Generative AI are still limited. This paper presents a systematic literature review conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines that aims at exploring the current state of research on the relationship between technology use and wellbeing, with a particular focus on Generative AI. The findings highlight six domains in which AI and wellbeing were related: physical health, mental health, education & assessment, workplace, economic development & wellbeing, and ethics & policy. This study also identifies risks such as metacognitive laziness, understood as a voluntary avoidance of cognitive regulation through the overreliance on AI systems or other technologies. Then, the study bridges a gap in the literature on AI and wellbeing, especially regarding the need to better capture the long-term effects of Generative AI on individual wellbeing.