The AI Generation: Balancing Technology and Socialization in Education 2025 | The Brookings Institution | 6 May 2025 | Online

The rapid advancement of generative AI is transforming how children interact, learn, and socialize. Surveys show that 45% of high school students already use OpenAI platforms, such as ChatGPT, to deal with friendship, relationship, and mental health issues. There are many outstanding questions about the impact that these developments will have on children’s development and socialization. As generative AI becomes more readily accessible in schools and at home, researchers worry that younger students may face reduced opportunities for critical social interactions that are essential for the development of emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication skills.

In an effort to address some of these questions, the new Brookings Global Taskforce on AI and Education has embarked on a two-year initiative to conduct a “premortem” on generative AI in the context of global education.

2025 Speakers

PANELISTS:

Rebecca Winthrop
Director - Center for Universal Education, Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development

Isabelle Hau
Executive Director, Stanford Accelerator for Learning

Drew Barvir
Co-Founder and CEO, Sonar Mental Health

Gaia Bernstein
Technology, Privacy and Policy Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection, and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute of Law Science and Technology, Seton Hall Law School