Burnout in the Age of AI – A New Era of Pressure
AI promised to unburden us—freeing up time, boosting creativity, and eliminating repetitive work. For stretched-thin leaders, it sounded like the help we’d been waiting for.
But in these early days of AI adoption, the results are mixed. Many are feeling not relief—but more pressure.
A new kind of burnout is emerging—not from too little support, but from too much acceleration, too soon.
Productivity Rocket Fuel—or a New Kind of Pressure?
The promise of AI is seductive: faster outputs, smarter decisions, fewer manual tasks. According to Upwork’s study on AI-enhanced work models:
64% of companies say AI has already improved productivity, and
49% of workers using AI say it makes their work more enjoyable.
But hidden in those numbers is something less talked about: a widening psychological gap between those empowered by AI—and those overwhelmed by it.
Workers also report anxiety about staying competitive as skills expectations rapidly evolve.
Leaders are experiencing decision paralysis amid AI's dizzying pace of change.
Employees report worry that they’ll be replaced or irrelevant if they don't keep up.
Even as workloads become more technically manageable, emotional workloads are increasing.
The Burnout Paradox of AI
Here's where it gets tricky: AI often reduces the number of hours worked—but increases the pressure to perform during those hours.
That’s what researchers call work intensification—doing more, faster, and with less room for error. It’s a major predictor of emotional exhaustion, the first component of burnout.
When new tech gets dropped into an already overloaded system, it doesn’t relieve pressure. It reshapes it, often in ways we’re not yet equipped to manage.
Overtime, this stress may even out, as there is growing evidence for the positive impact that using AI and agents has on engagement and satisfaction—the days are early and demands still outweigh the resources.
Decision Fatigue, Supercharged
For leaders and founders, AI expands decision-making capacity, but not emotional capacity. In fact, it introduces new kinds of decisions:
Which AI tools should we invest in?
Are we automating too much—or not enough?
What ethical risks do we need to consider?
How do we upskill or reskill our team… fast?
How are we redefining the work as we look to implement AI?
The cognitive load of AI adoption is non-trivial. And without space to think, reflect, and emotionally process, that load translates into burnout.
Research has long shown that chronic decision fatigue depletes mental energy and lowers resilience. AI accelerates the volume and complexity of decisions—especially in uncertain, fast-moving environments.
When AI Becomes a Mirror
There’s another psychological layer here. AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a mirror. Leaders are being asked:
What value do I bring that can’t be automated?
What does “human” leadership mean in an age of machines?
If an AI can do XYZ, what is my role about?
These are BIG questions. And when they go unexamined, they create internal dissonance—another key driver of burnout.
This is especially potent for women and underrepresented groups in leadership roles, who already face visibility tax and pressure to outperform . The added layer of needing to justify one’s “human value” amid automation amplifies emotional strain.
Burnout Prevention: What Leaders Can Do
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Don’t adopt AI tools reactively. Instead, ask:
What’s the problem we’re solving?
How will this tool impact team workflows, autonomy, and communication?
Who’s most affected—and how can we support them through the shift?
Detach. Clarity reduces ambiguity. And ambiguity is a major driver of burnout.
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Establish boundaries around AI usage:
AI tools are assistants, not replacements
Human input is still essential to judgment, nuance, and ethics
Time saved by AI shouldn’t immediately be backfilled with new tasks
Treat time gains as opportunities for reflection, not just acceleration. New work will emerge, and you also need to intentionally design it.
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Upskilling is key—but confidence matters more.
Invest in training that builds psychological safety and experimentation, not just tool usage. People don’t burn out because they can’t learn—they burn out when they feel they can’t keep up.
According to Upwork’s research, workers with high confidence in using AI report more enjoyment, less stress, and greater optimism about the future.
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If you’re always plugged into your AI stack—pinging prompts late at night, demanding instant outputs—you’re creating a norm of hyper-responsiveness.
Burnout develops and thrives in always-on cultures, without the support to balance and manage the demands. Slow down enough to re-humanize the workflow. That’s the new leadership signal.
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The antidote to burnout isn’t just better tech hygiene. It’s a return to the skills and capabilities that help us learn, strengthen our agility, build psychological flexibility, and make us uniquely human. Bersin calls them Powerskills, for decades HR has called them transferable skills. Regardless, these will help you keep perspective on the balance between machine and human capabilities and developing many of these are often keys to burnout recovery/mitigation. Consider:
What can you uniquely do that no AI can replicate?
Where do human relationships, empathy, or insight matter most in your role?
What legacy are you building beyond productivity?
Make time to reflect on these questions—and build them into your team’s rhythm.
AI Can’t Feel, but You Can
AI can produce content, code, and forecasts—but it can’t sense when a team is exhausted. It can’t build trust. It can’t show vulnerability or make space for grief, doubt, or hope.
You can.
And that’s what makes you irreplaceable—not because of your speed, but because of your humanity.
If AI is just new fuel in the engine, you are still the driver. Leaders need to pause, choose the direction, control the speed, and decide when it's time to pull over and deliberately rest to assess the situation within themselves and within their organizations. AI can power the journey—but only you can make it meaningful.
Burnout in the age of AI isn’t inevitable. But it does require a shift from tech-first to human-first leadership.
Certainly encouraging the individual interventions that work, taking care of yourself, and taking ownership over the system in which your people are operating so the shift is toward longevity.
Article Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash