Heavy AI Use in Workplace Linked to Burnout and Productivity Paradox, Study Finds

Heavy AI use at work has a surprising relationship to burnout, new study finds

The adoption of AI tools in the workplace is making employees more productive, but new research from freelance hiring firm Upwork suggests it might also be hurting their mental health. Following a survey of 2,500 workers (including executives, full-time employees, and freelancers) across multiple countries, the research showed that the most devoted users of AI tools, including agents, are also 88% more likely to experience burnout and twice as likely to quit, compared to their colleagues who use the technology less frequently. Also: How ChatGPT actually works (and why it's been so game-changing) The vast majority of freelancers (88%) who responded to the survey, in contrast, said their use of AI has positively impacted their careers, without the psychological downsides reported by their full-time, salaried counterparts. Among all respondents, 90% said they've come to view AI more as a fellow coworker than merely a tool. Interpersonal workplace dynamics are shifting as a result, according to the report: for example, 85% of respondents said they're more polite to AI than to their fellow human workers, while 67% report feeling a higher level of trust towards AI than towards their human coworkers. "These findings illustrate that workers achieving the greatest productivity with AI have lost a sense of psychological safety and team connection that is foundational to their work experience, fueling their burnout and intentions to leave their current employment," Upwork noted in its report. The new findings follow research from Harvard Business Review published in May, which found that the use of generative AI in the workplace can boost productivity while simultaneously reducing one's sense of meaning at work. The report also comes at a time when business leaders are figuring out what role AI will play in their companies, and how it will affect the future of their workforces. Big tech firms like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, and Amazon have been investing heavily in AI agents -- automated systems that can formulate strategies, take action, and use a suite of digital tools on behalf of human users -- while marketing them to businesses as tools for boosting workplace productivity and efficiency. Meanwhile, AI chatbots have grown more sophisticated, spurring many people to turn to them as a source of companionship and emotional support. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that AI companions could help to mitigate our society's rampant loneliness -- a very real issue which, ironically, the social media technology he helped to pioneer has played an outsized role in causing. Also: Gemini can access your Android phone's other apps, unless you stop it - here's how Out of fear of being left behind, business leaders have begun to incorporate agents and AI tools throughout their organizations. One recent study from Stanford University found that many workers have already begun using agents in their day-to-day work, but only for simple and routine tasks. The central promise from the big tech companies pushing AI into the workplace has been that the technology will take over the drudgework, freeing workers to focus on more fulfilling pursuits, including building deeper and more rewarding relationships with their fellow humans. The new Upwork report, however, shows the opposite trend taking place: at least among full-time workers, a more pronounced reliance upon AI seems to correlate with a more socially isolated work experience. Also: OpenAI research suggests heavy ChatGPT use might make you feel lonelier Freelancers, according to the report, offer a blueprint for healthy and sustainable human-AI interaction: "While [full-time employees] are developing a broad range of social relationships with AI, freelancers primarily use AI as a learning partner," the authors wrote. This conclusion should be taken with a hearty grain of salt, however, in light of the fact that Upwork has a clear incentive to encourage businesses to hire more freelancers (ideally from its platform), and since other research has shown that freelancers tend to be lonelier than full-time employees. The results of the survey underscore the fact that human well-being in the workplace depends on far more than just productivity. "The tools, tech and even who and what we define as a teammate are constantly evolving and expanding in the age of AI," Upwork wrote in its report. "But the heart of work remains connection." Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.

Heavy AI use makes you more likely to burn out and quit your job, new study finds

The adoption of AI tools in the workplace is making employees more productive, but new research from freelance hiring firm Upwork suggests it might also be hurting their mental health. Following a survey of 2,500 workers (including executives, full-time employees, and freelancers) across multiple countries, the research showed that the most devoted users of AI tools, including agents, are also 88% more likely to experience burnout and twice as likely to quit, compared to their colleagues who use the technology less frequently. Also: You shouldn't trust AI for therapy - here's why The vast majority of freelancers (88%) who responded to the survey, in contrast, said their use of AI has positively impacted their careers, without the psychological downsides reported by their full-time, salaried counterparts. Among all respondents, 90% said they've come to view AI more as a fellow coworker than merely a tool. Interpersonal workplace dynamics are shifting as a result, according to the report: for example, 85% of respondents said they're more polite to AI than to their fellow human workers, while 67% report feeling a higher level of trust towards AI than towards their human coworkers. "These findings illustrate that workers achieving the greatest productivity with AI have lost a sense of psychological safety and team connection that is foundational to their work experience, fueling their burnout and intentions to leave their current employment," Upwork noted in its report. The new findings follow research from Harvard Business Review published in May, which found that the use of generative AI in the workplace can boost productivity while simultaneously reducing one's sense of meaning at work. The report also comes at a time when business leaders are figuring out what role AI will play in their companies, and how it will affect the future of their workforces. Big tech firms like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, and Amazon have been investing heavily in AI agents -- automated systems that can formulate strategies, take action, and use a suite of digital tools on behalf of human users -- while marketing them to businesses as tools for boosting workplace productivity and efficiency. Meanwhile, AI chatbots have grown more sophisticated, spurring many people to turn to them as a source of companionship and emotional support. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that AI companions could help to mitigate our society's rampant loneliness -- a very real issue which, ironically, the social media technology he helped to pioneer has played an outsized role in causing. Also: Your next job? Managing a fleet of AI agents Out of fear of being left behind, business leaders have begun to incorporate agents and AI tools throughout their organizations. One recent study from Stanford University found that many workers have already begun using agents in their day-to-day work, but only for simple and routine tasks. The central promise from the big tech companies pushing AI into the workplace has been that the technology will take over the drudgework, freeing workers to focus on more fulfilling pursuits, including building deeper and more rewarding relationships with their fellow humans. Also: OpenAI research suggests heavy ChatGPT use might make you feel lonelier The new Upwork report, however, shows the opposite trend taking place: at least among full-time workers, a more pronounced reliance upon AI seems to correlate with a more socially isolated work experience. Freelancers, according to the report, offer a blueprint for healthy and sustainable human-AI interaction: "While [full-time employees] are developing a broad range of social relationships with AI, freelancers primarily use AI as a learning partner," the authors wrote. This conclusion should be taken with a hearty grain of salt, however, in light of the fact that Upwork has a clear incentive to encourage businesses to hire more freelancers (ideally from its platform), and since other research has shown that freelancers tend to be lonelier than full-time employees. The results of the survey underscore the fact that human well-being in the workplace depends on far more than just productivity. "The tools, tech and even who and what we define as a teammate are constantly evolving and expanding in the age of AI," Upwork wrote in its report. "But the heart of work remains connection." Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.

AI is turbocharging worker productivity but it's also wreaking havoc on their mental health

Employees that take advantage of the latest AI tools reported a 40% boost in their productivity, according to a new report from freelancing platform Upwork. C-suite leaders, for their part, are also noticing a difference -- around 77% say they've observed productivity gains from AI adoption. But even though workers are getting more done, they're paying a high emotional toll. The majority (88%) of the most productive AI-enabled workers report feelings of burnout due to an increase in workload. And as a result, these workers are twice as likely to consider quitting their jobs, the report finds. "That's a flashing red light for CHROs: Productivity gains can disappear overnight if high performers walk out the door," Kelly Monahan, Ph.D and manager director of Upwork's research institute tells Fortune. AI in the workplace is having other effects on workers than just burnout. Around 62% of workers say they're not clear on how the technology contributes to their company's bottom line. And more than two-thirds of employees who use AI the most say they have better relationships with it than their human colleagues, contributing to a sense of disconnect and alienation. AI isn't just changing what people do in the workplace, says Monahan. It's changing the "social architecture" of the office. "AI is increasingly becoming a teammate, and no longer just a background tool," she says. "Forward-looking CHROs are redesigning workflows, roles, and even career paths, so that humans and AI agents complement, rather than cannibalize, each other's strengths." Will AI lead to job cuts for the oldest or youngest generations? Experts weigh in on the potential outcomes. New York Times People managers now oversee about twice as many workers as just five years ago, a new analysis finds. Axios In an attempt to lure more shoppers, Amazon is turning its usual Prime Day of deals into an entire week, doubling the length of this year's promotion. Wall Street Journal Helping out. Amazon is reportedly asking some workers to volunteer to assist with orders on Prime Day by asking office workers to help pick and pack orders. -- Chris Morris

AI is replacing human connection as it boosts productivity. Success requires elevating relationships while embracing the technology

AI is finally delivering the productivity gains long promised. But something else is quietly slipping away: our connection to one another. While many conversations about AI fixate on job loss, new research from the Upwork Research Institute reveals a more immediate and underrecognized risk. AI is accelerating output, but at an emotional and relational cost, pointing to a growing lack of trust and clarity from leadership. Upwork's global survey of 2,500 C-suite executives, employees, and freelancers confirms what many leaders have hoped for: AI delivers measurable results. Employees report a 40% boost in productivity, and 77% of C-suite leaders say they're already seeing productivity gains from AI adoption in the past year. But the workers who report the highest productivity gains due to AI are also the most at risk. Among top AI performers, 88% report feeling burned out, and they're twice as likely to consider quitting. Many of them also feel disconnected from their organization's broader AI strategy, as 62% say they don't understand how their daily use of AI aligns with company goals. This disconnect poses a critical leadership challenge. Without thoughtful integration, even the most promising technologies can undermine team cohesion and well-being. It's not enough to adopt AI; we must redesign work systems that support the humans behind the gains. The emotional fallout is striking. Among top AI users, 67% say they trust AI more than their coworkers, and 64% say they have a better relationship with AI than with human teammates. A full 85% say they're more polite to AI than to people. The very tools accelerating productivity are eroding the social fabric that sustains it. For decades, we've optimized work for speed and scale -- streamlining operations, cutting meetings, flattening teams, and replacing dialogue with dashboards. AI fits seamlessly into this model, delivering more output with even less friction. But in the process, we've stripped away much of the relational glue that holds teams together. Onboarding is rushed. Training budgets shrink. Managerial spans stretch. Real conversations are replaced by templated guidance, and the space to say "I don't know" quietly disappears. Into that void steps AI: tidy, responsive, nonjudgmental. It listens, summarizes, and never interrupts. No wonder workers speak to it more politely than to their peers. For overworked employees, AI becomes a psychologically safe place to think aloud. It's no surprise that therapy and companionship are now among its top use cases. At first glance, this may seem harmless. But when synthetic understanding begins to replace real human connection, the impact extends beyond individual well-being to innovation, trust, and team performance. In contrast to full-time employees, freelancers appear to be navigating AI adoption with greater agency and resilience. Nearly 9 in 10 freelancers say AI has positively impacted their work, and 42% credit it with helping them specialize in a niche. Most use AI as a learning partner, with 90% saying it helps them acquire new skills faster. By comparison, only 30% of full-time employees say AI has helped them take on new projects -- and far fewer report benefits like better pay, faster promotions, or improved job opportunities. This gap points to a core insight: Agency, trust, and autonomy matter. When people have control over how they use AI, they use it to grow, not just to go faster. And demand for AI-literate talent is accelerating. On Upwork, searches for professionals skilled in working with AI agents have surged nearly 300% in the past six months. Independent professionals, by necessity, have developed healthier models of augmentation, using AI to amplify their value without eroding their human connections. Our data shows that 71% of AI use by freelancers on Upwork is focused on augmentation, not automation, highlighting a strong preference for human-AI collaboration. Flexible talent ecosystems and psychologically safe environments aren't perks; they're prerequisites for sustainable performance. To counter AI's quiet displacement of human connection, leaders must move beyond tech adoption to intentional work redesign -- one that puts relationships back at the center. It starts by designing for reciprocity, not just efficiency. Leaders should examine critical workflows and look for where human interaction has been stripped out in favor of speed. Have mentorship opportunities been replaced by templated guidance? Are there still spaces for team reflection or open feedback, or have those moments been optimized away? Rebuilding intentional touchpoints -- where people listen, respond, and learn from each other -- will be key to sustaining collaboration in an AI-powered workplace. At the same time, we need to rebuild the role of the manager. Many managers today are spread too thin, overseeing too many direct reports with too few tools or time to coach effectively. If we want teams to grow and thrive, leaders need the bandwidth and structure to focus on development, not just delivery. That may mean rethinking spans of control, investing in manager training, or giving them explicit permission to slow down and connect. Starbucks is a great example here. It's actively investing and bringing in more assistant managers to its stores so that leaders can better serve their customers and employees. We must also measure what matters. Connection won't flourish if it's invisible. Metrics like psychological safety, peer trust, and collaboration frequency should be tracked with the same rigor as throughput and KPIs. What you measure signals what you value -- and employees notice. Microsoft provides a great case study, choosing to measure and develop human thriving, rather than engagement, emphasizing the role of relationships and connections in one's role. Incorporating hybrid talent models can help as well. Freelancers and independent professionals are modeling healthy AI adoption in real time. Embedding them through flexible partnerships can help transfer sustainable behaviors and norms. Already, 48% of business leaders on Upwork say they're engaging freelancers to support AI transformation efforts. The biggest risk of AI isn't job loss; it's relational loss. People aren't quitting because they fear automation. They're quitting because they feel unseen, unsupported, and increasingly alone. Organizations that want to retain their most productive workers must go beyond tools and training to foster connection, support, and alignment. If we allow AI to replace not just tasks but trust, we'll see short-term gains followed by long-term erosion: rising attrition, faltering innovation, and teams that turn inward rather than toward each other. But if we design work intentionally -- so that AI augments human strengths instead of replacing them -- we can create a future where technology doesn't diminish connection, but deepens it. The future of sustainable productivity isn't just AI + human. It's AI + human + intentional work redesign.

Research indicates heavy AI users are burning out at work and 'twice as likely to quit'

Companies are focusing too much on using AI to drive optimal productivity, but freelancers have a healthier relationship with AI, we're told. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. Some new research is suggesting that AI may cause burnout in employees who heavily use the tech. A survey from the Upwork Research Institute (spotted by ZDNet) drew some interesting conclusions and highlighted a big difference in the impact of AI usage in staff members employed at a company versus freelancers. There's a clear enough message that AI can help drive better productivity, with 77% of executives saying that they had observed gains in that department thanks to the tech, and employees estimating that they're 40% more productive using AI tools. That isn't surprising given that AI can make some grunt work tasks a lot easier - such as summarizing a big document to give you the key takeaways, for example. However, there's a catch with AI in the workplace, and the research found that the "most productive AI users are also 88% more likely to be burned out (and) disengaged", and "twice as likely to quit" their job. The same wasn't true for freelancers, though. Upwork's survey found that 88% of freelancers claim that AI has positively impacted their careers, and the company noted: "Freelancers are just as productive with AI, but more in control, more resilient, and more focused on leveraging AI for their own personal growth and development." The Upwork Research Institute also constructs an argument that where companies are going wrong is that they are looking at AI in terms of optimizing output, rather than focusing on 'connection'. The executive summary of the research notes: "90% of workers see AI as a coworker. Among top AI performers, 67% trust AI more than colleagues, and 64% say they have a better relationship with AI than with their teammates." Of course, solitary freelancers may indeed see AI as more of a coworker seeing as they may not necessarily have coworkers as such - or at least, not people they have much contact with beyond brief messages. Trusting AI more than your colleagues is, of course, a dubious path to tread. Yes, fellow humans can, and may well, be dishonest at times - and AI is more trustworthy in that respect, but it can get things wrong (badly at times) and hallucinate.