{"id":116561,"date":"2023-11-02T15:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T19:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=116561"},"modified":"2024-01-10T13:23:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T17:23:09","slug":"how-ai-fears-affect-mental-health-what-companies-can-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-ai-fears-affect-mental-health-what-companies-can-do\/","title":{"rendered":"How AI Fears Affect Mental Health (+ What Companies Can Do)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are employees\u2019 concerns about AI in the workplace? How can companies foster a healthy relationship between employees and AI to enhance productivity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 40% of US workers fear that AI will make their job responsibilities obsolete\u2014and psychologists say it\u2019s wreaking havoc on their mental health. Employees who fear that AI will take over their jobs are more likely to feel undervalued at work, experience symptoms of workplace burnout, and look for other jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a look at the top AI fears, and what companies can do to assuage them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Many Fear AI Will Take Their Jobs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nearly two out of five US workers<\/a> fear that Artificial Intelligence (AI) may render some or all of their job duties obsolete, according to the American Psychological Association (APA)\u2014and the existential threat<\/a> is taking a toll. These employees experience significantly higher rates of poor mental health, feel less valued, and intend to quit their jobs<\/strong> at nearly double the rate of workers without AI fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although AI evokes excitement<\/a> for some, for many, <\/strong>uncertainty prevails<\/strong><\/a> about how the rapidly expanding technology will transform their work lives.<\/strong> AI is already embedded in everyday business functions<\/a> across a variety of sectors<\/a>, and experts say more companies will implement AI in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologists say that many workers fear AI will assume roles traditionally reserved for humans<\/a>, like content generation and customer interactions, and will devalue their creativity and interpersonal skills. The perceived lack of control over such seismic changes can trigger feelings of helplessness and threaten people\u2019s identities<\/strong>, as skills that took years to develop are potentially rendered obsolete overnight, raising questions about what roles will be left for humans.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Could AI Replace Laborers?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Historically, robots could only do things they were specifically programmed to do by humans. Because designing and programming a robot for any given task requires a significant up-front investment, automation was only practical for well-defined repetitive tasks, such as assembly line work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But large-language-model (LLM) AIs like ChatGPT<\/a> provide two capabilities that, when used together, change the situation: They can interpret natural language, and they can write computer code.<\/a> This means it is now possible to build a robot that can respond to commands it wasn\u2019t pre-programmed for. AI interprets the command and writes computer code to move the robot accordingly<\/a>. Then it runs the code and the robot executes the command. General-purpose robots like this could, at least in theory, be substituted for human workers in sectors like retail, food service, manual labor, construction, and other skilled trades.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, if someone creates a humanoid robot with physical capabilities that lag behind human workers by only as much as LLMs lag behind human authors, the robot might be in a better position to take over the manual labor market than LLMs are to displace human authors.<\/strong> This is because vocations like writing tend to disproportionately favor exceptional quality (a few exceptional authors become rich and famous; most writers don\u2019t), but the market for physical labor doesn\u2019t: An exceptionally talented warehouse worker doesn\u2019t earn much more than an average warehouse worker (at least not until she gets promoted up the management chain, at which point she is no longer doing manual labor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, if the current shortage of labor in the skilled trades<\/a> continues long enough, robots might provide a solution to the shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Worried Workforce<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the implementation of AI picks up steam in US workplaces large and small, many workers worry about the pace and impacts of the change<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n