AI and the Future of Well-Being: Navigating the Promise and Perils of Positive Psychology

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how wellbeing is understood, assessed, and supported across societies. AI-driven tools now influence how individuals pursue happiness, regulate emotions, track psychological states, and engage with interventions intended to enhance flourishing. These developments present extraordinary opportunities for scaling interventions, hyper-personalization, and accessibility. But at the same time, they also raise fundamental questions for positive psychology as a scientific and professional discipline.

As AI systems increasingly mediate wellbeing-related decisions, there is a growing risk that definitions of flourishing, resilience, and optimal functioning are being shaped by technological capabilities rather than psychological theory, empirical evidence, or ethical reflection. Positive psychology finds itself at a critical juncture: either actively shaping how AI is integrated into wellbeing science and practice or becoming peripheral to decisions that will define the future of human flourishing.

This Research Topic, hosted within the Positive Psychology section of Frontiers in Psychology, serves as a scholarly extension of the International Positive Psychology Association’s (IPPA) summit titled: AI and the Future of Well-Being: Navigating the Promise and Perils of Positive Psychology. It provides a curated academic space for senior scholars to reflect on, interrogate, and help shape the evolving relationship between AI and wellbeing.


PROBLEM STATEMENT

The integration of AI into wellbeing contexts has outpaced the field’s capacity for critical evaluation, ethical oversight, and conceptual clarity. Key unresolved tensions include the displacement of evidence-based wellbeing constructs by algorithmic proxies; the trade-off between scalability and relational authenticity; the use of predictive precision without explanatory understanding; the emergence of unintended consequences such as cognitive offloading and digital dependency; and ethical ambiguities surrounding bias, consent, privacy, and professional accountability.

At present, the majority of the innovation taking place in the AI-driven wellbeing space is occurring outside the discipline and is driven by commercial or technological priorities rather than psychological science. This creates an urgent need for reflective, theory-informed, and ethically grounded perspectives from within positive psychology to clarify what constitutes genuine wellbeing in an AI-mediated world and what role psychologists should play in shaping that future.


PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC

This Research Topic offers a coherent, field-level reflection on AI and wellbeing from within positive psychology. It consolidates expert perspectives from leading scholars actively shaping the discourse at the intersection of AI, ethics, professional identity, and human flourishing.

The scope is intentionally focused. We're not seeking new empirical findings, systematic reviews, or methodological innovations. Instead, this collection prioritizes conceptual clarity, critical reflection, and disciplinary positioning. Contributions should articulate implications for theory, practice, ethics, and the future development of positive psychology in an AI-enhanced landscape.


CORE THEMATIC FOCUS AREAS

Contributions to this Research Topic are expected to engage with one or more of the following conceptual domains, grounded directly in the themes of the IPPA summit:

1. Distinguishing genuine AI capabilities from hype and technological determinism

2. The precision paradox of personalization, diagnostics, and therapeutic relationships

3. Unintended psychological consequences of sustained AI interaction

4. Ethical foundations for AI use in wellbeing practice

5. Professional competencies for AI-integrated wellbeing work


TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS INVITED

This Research Topic only accepts Perspective and Opinion articles. Contributions should offer theoretically grounded, scholarly reflections on AI’s implications for wellbeing science, ethics, and professional practice.


INVITE-ONLY SUBMISSION POLICY

Submissions to this Research Topic are by invitation only and are restricted to the keynote speakers and panelists from the IPPA hereAI and the Future of Wellbeing Summit (March 23–27, 2026).

This curated approach is intentional and reflects a commitment to conceptual coherence, depth, and scholarly stewardship. The Research Topic is designed to capture reflective contributions from field leaders whose work collectively represents a boundary-setting moment for positive psychology in relation to AI. Rather than seeking comprehensive coverage, this collection prioritizes authoritative voices who are actively shaping the discourse and can offer theoretically grounded, ethically informed perspectives that will guide the field's evolution.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, wellbeing, Positive Psychology, ethics, professional identity, human flourishing

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.