The Role of AI in Peer Support for Young People: A Study of Preferences for Human- and AI-Generated Responses

Abstract

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is integrated into everyday technology, including news, education, and social media. AI has further pervaded private conversations as conversational partners, auto-completion, and response suggestions. As social media becomes young people's main method of peer support exchange, we need to understand when and how AI can facilitate and assist in such exchanges in a beneficial, safe, and socially appropriate way. We asked 622 young people to complete an online survey and evaluate blinded human-and AI-generated responses to help-seeking messages. We found that participants preferred the AI-generated response to situations about relationships, self-expression, and physical health. However, when addressing a sensitive topic, like suicidal thoughts, young people preferred the human response. We also discuss the role of training in online peer support exchange and its implications for supporting young people's well-being. Disclaimer: This paper includes sensitive topics, including suicide ideation. Reader discretion is advised. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI; Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing; Natural language interfaces; Social media; • Social and professional topics → Adolescents.

"It just happened to be the perfect thing": Real-life experiences of generative AI chatbots for mental health

“…Several participants experienced meaningful crisis support from generative AI, as long as guardrails were not triggered. This resonates with recent research showing that generative AI can help halt suicidal ideation 47 , and that young people show a preference for generative AI support responses over those from peers, adult mentors and therapists -but not on topics that invoke the AI's safety guardrails 31 .…”