Artificial Intelligence in Social Work: Bridging Technology and Humanity

This open access book is a comprehensive examination of how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the field of social work across practice, education, and research. This topic is particularly important to the field at this time due to the rapid integration of AI technologies into societal structures and the increasing demand for social services that are efficient, effective, and ethically sound. The book provides timely insights into how AI can be harnessed to address complex social issues while maintaining the core values of social work. It emphasizes the critical need for professionals to understand and navigate the ethical implications of AI, ensuring that technological advancements serve to enhance, rather than compromise, human well-being.

Organized into five parts, the book begins with a foundational overview in Part I, introducing the role of AI in transforming social work. Part II explores AI applications responding to social needs, covering critical areas such as poverty, child welfare, health care, mental health, substance abuse, support for older adults, communities at risk, criminal justice, and human trafficking prevention. Part III delves into AI's impact on social justice in changing contexts, including advocacy, environmental challenges, the evolving workplace, and international issues. Part IV focuses on AI in social work education and research, highlighting how AI tools enhance learning and scholarly inquiry. Part V addresses ethical considerations and future directions, discussing challenges, governance, and strategies for building AI literacy, culminating in a conclusion that outlines opportunities for AI in social work.

Artificial Intelligence in Social Work: Bridging Technology and Humanity equips social work practitioners, educators, researchers, and students with a deep understanding of AI's capabilities and implications within various social work domains. The book offers practical guidance on integrating AI into various aspects of social work practice, enhancing service delivery, and improving client outcomes. For educators and students, it provides a framework for incorporating AI literacy into social work curricula, preparing the next generation of professionals for a technologically advanced landscape. Researchers benefit from insights into innovative methodologies that leverage AI for more robust and impactful studies. By intertwining technological advancements with the human-centric values of social work, the book underscores the necessity of balancing innovation with compassion and ethical responsibility.

Ruopeng An, PhD, MPP, is a leading expert in obesity epidemiology and policy evaluation, a noted interdisciplinary data scientist, and an internationally recognized scholar in applying artificial intelligence to address public health disparities and social inequities. He currently holds the Constance and Martin Silver Endowed Professorship in Data Science and Prevention and serves as the Director of the Constance and Martin Silver Center on Data Science and Social Equity at NYU Silver School of Social Work. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the SAGE journal Translational Data Science for Social Impact and is also an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior and the American College of Epidemiology. Recognized as one of Elsevier’s top 2% most cited scientists, his work has been featured by major media outlets such as TIME, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Reuters, USA Today, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Guardian, FOX, NPR, and CNN. He is the author of the forthcoming book Building an AI-Ready University: A Holistic Strategy for Higher Education Leaders, to be published by Routledge. He serves on research grant review and expert panels for the NIH, CDC, NSF, HHS, USDA, and the French National Research Agency. Before joining NYU, he was the Faculty Lead in Public Health Sciences and Faculty Fellow for AI Innovations in Education at Washington University in St. Louis, where he founded two certificate programs in artificial intelligence and data science. He holds a PhD in Policy Analysis from the RAND School of Public Policy, a Master of Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, and a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from Peking University.

Michael A. Lindsey, PhD, MSW, MPH, is a noted scholar in child and adolescent mental health and a leader in the search for knowledge and solutions to generational poverty and inequality. He is the Dean and Paulette Goddard Professor of Social Work at NYU Silver School of Social Work, and an Aspen Health Innovators Fellow. Additionally, he led the working group of experts supporting the Congressional Black Caucus Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health, which created the report Ring the Alarm: The Crisis of Black Youth Suicide in America. He is the President of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice in Social Work. He was also appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Community Preventive Services Task Force. In 2023, he was appointed to the New York City Board of Health. Before being named NYU Silver’s Dean, he was the Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies and Executive Director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. His current research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, and he has been ranked among the top 2% of most-cited scientists by Elsevier. The political news outlet City & State New York has recognized him as a 2025 Trailblazer in Higher Education and on their 2024 Health Care Power 100 list, the 2022 and 2023 Higher Education Power 100 lists, and the 2021 Mental Health Power 50 list. Additionally, PoliticsNY/amNY named him both a 2025 Power Player in Health Care and a 2025 Power Player in Education. He is a Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He holds a PhD in social work and an MPH from the University of Pittsburgh, an MSW from Howard University, and a BA in sociology from Morehouse College. He also completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.