Psychological Effects of AI in Everyday Environments

By 2024, over half of adults in the US and more than a third in Germany had tried generative AI. Many people use it every day, yet we still know surprisingly little about how this rapid adoption influences human psychology. This research project explores how the use of generative AI—for instance, during programming, writing, or chatting—shapes human psychological experience. One of our central focuses is on optimal states of experience, including flow. Flow refers to a state of deep absorption in a challenging task, where a sense of time and self-awareness fade and the activity is experienced as deeply fulfilling. We measure flow using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) via self-report prompts delivered in participants' everyday environments. In parallel, we examine how large language models can enhance psychological research methods, for example by developing AI-assisted qualitative interviews that allow for more adaptive and personalized questionnaire formats. These AI-guided protocols are used in our studies to enrich and validate real-time measures of experiences such as flow.