APA Center for Behavioral Science and AI

The American Psychological Association is bringing together technology companies, researchers, and policymakers to build AI that actually works – for humans. 

The American Psychological Association is bringing together technology companies, researchers, and policymakers to build AI that actually works – for humans. 

The Center is an initiative of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. For more than a century, APA has been the trusted voice on human behavior, mental health, and well-being — shaping public policy and translating science into action.

We’ve developed evidence-based guidance on AI’s impact and published formal policy on AI ethics, health, and equity. Now we are going further — moving from recommendations to meaningful engagement with the teams building and deploying the technology, and the decision makers shaping its implementation and evolution.

The companies and investors at the digital edge know that getting AI right requires more than technical excellence. 

We’re starting with youth digital well-being — one of the most urgent and actionable applications of this work — but our scope is society-wide. Wherever AI touches human lives, this collaboration matters.

Features are being designed. Algorithms are being written. Defaults are being set. 

The decisions being made today will shape how we live for decades.

Companies want to get this right. Regulators need credible guidance. Users are asking what’s safe and what’s worth the risk.

The American Psychological Association brings extensive expertise in human behavior that can inform these decisions right now. At the same time, we need infrastructure to generate new evidence and translate it into practice as quickly as the technology evolves. 

The Center will do both — apply what we already know and build the support for research that keeps pace with what’s coming.