Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming embedded in the social, commercial and informational environments that shape health. As AI changes how people learn, work, connect, access information and services, encounter commercial influence and make decisions, it may increasingly reshape established determinants of health and their distribution across populations. For adolescents in particular, AI assistants, companions and increasingly agentic systems may influence development, wellbeing and future opportunity in ways that generate both benefits and harms.

This interactive workshop will bring together researchers, public health practitioners and policymakers to ask: what research do we need now to understand AI as an emerging determinant of population health, inform policy and practice, and prepare for the potentially transformative effects of increasingly capable AI?

Participants will examine priorities across three areas: (i) measurement and surveillance, including how we track changing AI exposures, experiences and population impacts; (ii) methods and evidence, including longitudinal studies, experiments, living evidence synthesis and algorithmic auditing; and (iii) policy and governance research, including how we generate evidence that can inform, evaluate and improve regulatory and policy responses. The workshop will begin with a series of short, thought-provoking presentations to challenge current thinking about how AI may shape population health now and into the future. These will be followed by facilitated small-group discussions to identify priority research questions, evidence gaps and policy-relevant methods, before bringing participants together to develop a shared research agenda for public health preparedness and action.