From study aides to emotional support, AI chatbots are becoming constant companions for many young people in Switzerland, raising concerns about attention spans, loneliness and dependence. Adam* is 17 and doesn’t remember what studying was like before ChatGPT. A few days before a test, he retreats to his bedroom in a small town in the central Swiss canton of Schwyz and asks the chatbot to summarise pages of study material and prepare questions and answers. Three days a week he works as an apprentice software developer at a company in Zurich. There, he constantly interacts with AI tools. Sometimes he uses them throughout the day to plan tasks, summarise data or get programming suggestions. Outside of work he uses chatbots as “very intelligent friends,” asking them for advice on diet, fitness and other practical aspects of everyday life. Rather than consulting his peers, he prefers to turn to AI, which he describes as a kind of “high-level coach.” He says he doesn’t know anyone his ...
