In La Plata, the university city par excellence, the scene is repeated in public, private and technical schools: students in the final year of high school face the question that marks the stage before and after academic life: What do we study? This dilemma, which has historically been resolved through conversations in schools or interviews with career counselors, has added an unexpected but crucial actor: artificial intelligence.
With tools like ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot at the fingertips of their mobile phones, many teens have found a space where they can ask questions without shame, without feeling judged and receive instant, structured answers. For them, artificial intelligence is a way to organize chaos, to transform scattered doubts into concrete hypotheses, to compare careers, or simply, to feel companionship in a moment of uncertainty.
“This year almost everyone is coming with screenshots,” says Gabriela Gutierrez, a high school counselor in Central La Plata. “They say, ‘This is what you asked for from ChatGPT,’ and we work from there. It doesn’t replace mentoring, but it has become the first step for many kids.”
Fears of future expatriates
The consultations were diverse, deep and, above all, very humanitarian. The AI receives professional, emotional, comparative and practical questions. A mosaic that reveals a lot about how this generation decides its future.
“If I like this and this too, what should I study?” It is the most common suspicion. They combine interests, fears and abilities:
• “I like to talk about politics and technology: communications or engineering?”
• “I love animals but I hate math: is veterinary medicine the same?”
• “I love writing but I also love business: journalism or management?”
“I asked the AI if medicine was right for me and it helped me organize my fears,” says Rocio, 17, of Los Hornos. “It gave me concrete steps to figure out if this is what I really wanted. I felt like I was bringing something that seemed complicated to reality.”
Comparisons one after another
Young people are no longer asking “what to study”, but rather which career is best for them between two specific options. They ask for detailed comparison tables: duration, challenging subjects, job opportunities, workload and ‘university lifestyle’. Matteo (17 years old), from Villa Elvira, lived it like this: “At school they say that journalism and communication are the same thing. The artificial intelligence made a very clear comparison table for me. And I decided to communicate.”
“Take me to a professional test”
Many young people ask AI to interview them:
• “Ask me about my interests and suggest careers.”
• “Give me a quick test.”
Lara, 18, who lives in City Bell, was surprised by the result: “I asked her for a quiz and I ended up discovering that I was interested in social work, which I had never thought about.”
Emotional consultations
The questions are not always technical. There are also existential doubts:
• “Is it normal to not know what you are going to study at 18?”
• “What happens if I choose the wrong major?”
• “How do I know if I’m good at something?”
Sol, 17, from Gunnit, sums it up this way: “I said, ‘Is it normal for us to get lost?’ And he said yes. He gave me steps and I felt his escort. “It was a relief.”
The fine print you seek to understand
Many children want to know the experience of each race:
• “How many hours does a medical student study?”
• “Can you work and study architecture?”
• “How much mathematics does psychology have?”
“I knew I didn’t want engineering, but I wanted something based on numbers,” confirmed Tomás, 18, from Barrio Norte. “AI gave me economics. Only then did I understand my options.”
La Plata: a city that promotes research
With 17 UNLP faculties, dozens of higher education schools and thousands upon thousands of students in circulation, La Plata is a region where career is defined on the move: buses, bars, school corridors, WhatsApp groups and, now, chatting with artificial intelligence.
Thiago (18 years old) from Tolosa, discovered his future in a digital chat:
“I wanted something that was technology-based but without programming all day. The AI told me about UX and UX design. I had never heard of that before. It was just a flash in the pan.”
Juan, 18, from San Carlos, first needed a digital conversation before a family conversation: “I am the rare person who wants to study arts in a family of accountants. I talked about it with the AI before I did it with my father. He organized so much information for me that later I was able to talk about it in peace.”
Shame, barrier
Many teens appreciate the ability to ask questions without feeling watched.
April, 17, from Romero, said candidly: “I’m embarrassed to ask in person. With AI I write everything down as I think of it. It has helped me think about communication or design without fear.”
Until inquiries arise about short options or technical alternatives. Camilla (17 years old), from Ringlet, found it clear there: “I always thought about psychology, but the length of it stopped me. I asked the AI about relevant short courses, and they assigned me a therapeutic companion and several professorships. It opened other doors for me.”
Look specialists
Advisors agree that AI does not replace human conversation, but it can improve the starting point. Students arrive with ready-made analogies, formulated interests, and more nuanced doubts.
The challenge, they say, is not to believe that AI is an infallible oracle: career decision remains a human, gradual and often changing process.
Career guidance no longer begins with a formal interview: it begins with a message sent from a cell phone. Artificial intelligence does not select young people, but helps them ask themselves better questions, know themselves and organize their horizons in a time of uncertainty.
As Nicholas (17), from Melchor Romero, sums it up: “I didn’t know there were so many races until I asked the AI. It’s like it shows you a map when you get lost.”
Perhaps this is the key to the phenomenon: he does not make decisions for them, but rather seeks to facilitate the path, asks them, intersects with them, and accompanies them. The rest, as always, is in the hands of each teenager’s own desire, experience and history.