Background/Objectives: The evolution of digital technology enhances the broadening of a person’s intellectual growth. Research points out that implementing innovative applications of the digital world improves human social, cognitive, and metacognitive behavior. Artificial intelligence chatbots are yet another innovative human-made construct. These are forms of software that simulate human conversation, understand and process user input, and provide personalized responses. Executive function includes a set of higher mental processes necessary for formulating, planning, and achieving a goal. The present study aims to investigate executive function reinforcement through artificial intelligence chatbots, outlining potentials, limitations, and future research suggestions. Specifically, the study examined three research questions: the use of conversational chatbots in executive functioning training, their impact on executive-cognitive skills, and the duration of any improvements. Methods: The assessment of the existing literature was implemented using the systematic review method, according to the PRISMA 2020 Principles. The avalanche search method was employed to conduct a source search in the following databases: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and complementary Google Scholar. This systematic review included studies from 2021 to the present using experimental, observational, or mixed methods. It included studies using AI-based chatbots or conversationalists to support executive functions, such as anxiety, stress, depression, memory, attention, cognitive load, and behavioral changes. In addition, this study included general populations with specific neurological conditions, all peer-reviewed, written in English, and with full-text access. However, the study excluded studies before 2021, the literature reviews, systematic reviews, non-AI-based chatbots or conversationalists, studies not targeting the range of executive skills and abilities, studies not written in Englis 2399 brainsci Brain Sciences Brain Sci Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) PMC11764365 11764365 11764365 39851415 10.3390/brainsci15010047 AI Chatbots and Cognitive Control: Enhancing Executive Functions Through Chatbot Interactions: A Systematic Review Pergantis Pantelis 1 2 * Bamicha Victoria 1 Skianis Charalampos 2 Drigas Athanasios 1 * Roelands Bart Academic Editor Bogataj Špela Academic Editor 1 Net Media Lab & Mind & Brain R&D, Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications, National Centre of Scientific Research ‘Demokritos’, 153 41 Agia Paraskevi, Greece; vbamicha@iit.demokritos.gr 2 Department of Information & Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean, 832 00 Karlovasi, Greece; cskianis@aegean.gr * Correspondence: pantperg@helit.duth.gr (P.P.); dr@iit.demokritos.gr (A.D.) 6 1 2025 15 1 47 47 27 1 2025 © 2025 by the authors. It has psycho-educational and self-educational functions that evolve incrementally at different levels. The research results showed an improvement in the intensity of attention deficit symptoms, with positive effects on concentration, emotional self-regulation, inattention, memory capacity, and empathy. Another study [ 22 ] found similar findings regarding chatbots’ usage for schoolwork and their influence on students’ working memory. Chatbots helped reduce cognitive load, The study illustrates how AI chatbots are still in their infancy as a tool for teaching higher-order mental skills, suggesting the future possibilities of their efficient use in executive and cognitive mechanisms growth. Thus, it may catalyze additional study in education and the responsible application of artificial intelligence, focusing on the optimal development of specialized usage of AI chatbots that enhance executive function. More specifically, this study is groundbreaking, as it is the first to comprehensively explore the potential and numerous benefits of using AI chatbots as therapeutic agents for the executive mechanism. Using executive skills stimulates the brain’s neural networks in the prefrontal cortex, which includes several areas. The limbic system and the prefrontal cortex are connected, with neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and cortisol that regulate and enhance neural activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), positively influencing executive functions [ 8 ]. Moreover, executive functions are divided into “hot” and “cool” dimensions: emotional and cognitive control. Cold executive functions involve logical analysis and planning, while hot emotional aspects focus on individual motivations, empathy, self-awareness, and decision-making related to emotional states [ 7 , 33 ]. Park et al., 2024 [ 26 ] used a goal-directed chatbot (ForME) in 132 children aged 6–7 with ADHD symptoms using measures of ADHD RS and executive function (BRIEF), which was assessed via parent/teacher feedback and chatbot adherence logs. Kim et al., 2024 [ 28 ] also applied a type of cognitive training chatbot in n = 32 older adults aged 60+ years of age utilizing memory tasks assessed with CANTAB (episodic/working memory) evaluating mental health, using GDS and GAI scales. Executive functions can encompass a wide range of higher mental abilities such as working memory, attention, cognitive flexibility, and emotional-inhibitory control, leading to specific and goal-oriented behaviors and actions. This set of abilities every human possesses is tightly associated with learning adaptability and development in dynamic environmental stages [ 9 ]. More specifically, AI systems can be as good as the data that they are trained on, so if the training data may contain several biases, the chatbots would respond adequately [ 75 ]. The findings of this systematic review highlight the significance and the impact as well as the potential of conversational AI chatbots in targeting and improving highly cognitive functions like executive ones, establishing gains in hot and cold components.