DIGITAL LIFE

Why is AI making so many people anxious at work?

Amid predictions of machines surpassing the human brain and warnings about a possible financial bubble, the future of artificial intelligence seems surrounded by uncertainty. Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen, workers in various sectors are dealing with a more immediate symptom: anxiety about AI.

Fear itself is not new. With each new technological wave that alters the way we produce and work, the fear of replacement reappears. But the speed of change, the feeling of lack of control, and the promises that oscillate between the fantastic and the catastrophic can make this moment particularly distressing.

In the US, the discussion about anxiety generated by AI has escalated in the face of the recent wave of layoffs that swept through large companies. According to a report by the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, October saw the highest number of cuts in American companies for the month in more than two decades. Cost reduction and the adoption of AI appear among the main official reasons.

Some companies have publicly mentioned artificial intelligence when justifying the layoffs. Amazon, for example, claimed that the reduction of 14,000 jobs was part of an effort to make the company "leaner" and thus better take advantage of the opportunities brought by technology.

Some question whether these cuts are actually related to AI or whether the technology has become a good justification for reducing costs. Be that as it may, the uncertainty itself is already a trigger for anxiety associated with artificial intelligence — and not just that linked to the risk of losing one's job. But is it possible to deal with this unease?

1. Where does AI anxiety come from?...Beyond the fear of being replaced, discomfort with change, pressure to adapt to something new, and concerns about the future are some of the forces that shape the anxiety generated by AI.

In a recently published article in the Harvard Business Review, workplace mental health consultant Morra Aarons-Mele points out that AI represents an unprecedented threat to white-collar jobs. However, there are doubts about how transformative the technology will be. At the top of companies, leaders claim they are under pressure to adopt it in some way.

The researcher lists some factors that help explain where this anxiety-inducing environment comes from. The first is the lack of control over change. While a few companies decide the course of humanity's future with AI, regulation and the rest of society seem to be playing catch-up. The feeling is one of a certain powerlessness.

Then, there is a loss of meaning. If decisions and creative tasks begin to be outsourced, values ​​such as autonomy and the construction of meaning in work tend to become empty. Meanwhile, there is the risk of creating a relationship of dependence with these tools.

2. The pressure to adapt...Another way to look at the anxiety generated by AI is that of pressure: the dissemination of a discourse that it is urgent and should have been done yesterday, at the risk of being left behind. It seems that even those who do not see the point in using these tools have an obligation to find a way to use them.

This idea of ​​the inevitability of AI is reinforced by the very companies that sell these systems, with speeches from their leaders about how the world will soon no longer be the same. This is a pressure that affects not only professionals, but also businesses that have sought to adopt artificial intelligence in recent years. The result, however, does not always work.

In August, a report published by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) pointed out that 95% of companies with AI pilot projects still did not have a return on their investments. The study, among other points, showed that more than half of corporate investments in AI are concentrated in the areas of sales and marketing. The technology, however, has actually generated a return on investment (ROI) in "less glamorous" sectors such as finance, operations and legal, which operate behind the scenes.

For Michelle Schneider, partner at the consulting firm Signal & Cipher and author of "The Professional of the Future," the lack of clarity about what really changes with AI (and when) is part of what generates anxiety.

"There's a huge demand from boards and leadership that we need to work with AI, but little clarity on how to do it. That's why I think the profound change in work won't be so quick," says Schneider, who believes that the transformation generated by AI will be radical, but also gradual. "Some experts say that artificial general intelligence (which approaches human capabilities) is knocking on the door, and others that this will only happen around the middle of the century. The truth is that nobody is sure."

3. Is it possible to reduce anxiety?...If the anxiety generated by AI is triggered by work-related uncertainties, the suggestion from the partner at Signal & Cipher is to regain a sense of autonomy. Even if the broad implications of artificial intelligence escape some kind of individual control, she reminds us that it is possible to think about how to plan and direct one's own career. Doing so, she says, helps reduce fear.

"Have you asked ChatGPT how AI will impact your career?" she suggests, as a step towards reflecting on one's own trajectory. "What I mean is that it's possible to understand some signs for the coming years in order to think about career planning based on them. Projecting something into the more distant future, however difficult it may seem, helps us make better decisions in the present."

In the corporate environment, psychologist and consultant Milena Brentan believes that a significant portion of the anxiety generated by AI can be minimized when companies approach the adoption of the technology with transparency. This includes explaining the motivations, involving teams in testing, and listening to what is working and what is not.

— Companies that are handling this best are those that address the topic clearly, explain the reasons why, and invite people to experiment. When you make this move, you remove a good part of the uncertainty about what the company is planning, including the doubt about whether that position will continue or not — explains the specialist in leadership development and organizational culture.

by: Juliana Causin is a reporter for GLOBO in São Paulo