Why AI’s gains could come with a burnout cost

That could reduce organisational capacity for good decision-making and innovation.

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One risk of AI adoption is not just heavier workloads, but uncertainty about the value of human contribution itself, says the writer.

One risk of AI adoption is not just heavier workloads, but uncertainty about the value of human contribution itself, says the writer.

ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

Jennifer Jordan

“Sometimes, I wonder why I bother going to work at all,” an executive in a class I was teaching said during a discussion about artificial intelligence. He was not burned out in the conventional sense; he was struggling to understand where he fit in a workplace where machines were taking on more of the tasks that once defined his job. 

The executive’s anxiety points to one risk of AI adoption: not just heavier workloads, but also uncertainty about the value of human contribution itself. 

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