The intersection of AI and mental health in the workplace.

AI is inescapable, and examining its intersection with mental health can feel divisive. Early adopters experience clear gains: improved efficiency and more time for complex, meaningful work.

But mainstream headlines tell a different story, fuelling the fear that AI will replace human workers. This growing anxiety is shaping how employees experience work, raising an important question: how can AI and humans work together without negatively impacting mental wellbeing in the process?

Poor mental health is bad for business, and AI is taking the blame

In 2024/2025, work-related stress, anxiety, or depression accounted for 22.1 million days lost, with Deloitte estimating the cost of poor employee mental health at a staggering £51bn a year. Fear of AI jeopardising jobs has nearly doubled since 2023, rising from 35.6%, as AI automation takes on the ‘grunt work’. This can result in a widening of the skills gap and the development of industry-specific skills and knowledge, as AI is being utilised for tasks that have previously been assigned to entry-level workers, which has historically facilitated on-the-job learning and skills acquisition.

There is also an anticipated uneven impact across the workforce, with skewed historical data sets and unequal access to training and tools, particularly for minority groups. Even productivity gains are receiving mixed reports. In a recent Upwork survey, 77% of employees reported that AI tools have decreased productivity and increased workload, adding pressure rather than easing it. However, PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey found that more than 80% of workers who use generative AI daily expect it to enable more efficient working in the next 12 months. It’s unclear what impact AI is having at an individual level, but what is clear is that deploying it in the wrong places could have serious detrimental effects on employee health and the bottom line, compounded by the media’s continuing and prolific coverage.

AI rollout is transformative if deployed strategically

Many companies are rolling out AI to increase productivity, pick up the menial, time-draining tasks that humans, if we are honest, don’t add any value to. But is ‘faster’ the goal? It shouldn’t be, or at least not the only one. AI needs reframing; its personal brand as a colleague in the workplace should focus on value, not just efficiency, as a collaborator, not a competitor.

AI encourages the rethinking and remapping of how value is delivered. AI isn’t here to replace humans; it’s here to replace tasks, enabling humans to move up the value chain, orchestrating and interacting with ‘AI colleagues’ teammates to create a higher combined value. As John Dewey noted, “There is a difference between finding an answer and understanding what the answer means.” Simply put, AI can generate outputs, but it cannot understand meaning, context, or societal impact. That responsibility remains uniquely human. Human interpreters, the conductors who can understand and interact with AI, inform and guide its algorithms.

Humans + AI

Simply plugging AI into workflows without redefining human + AI value misses the opportunity for real transformation. AI isn’t a threat, it’s an opportunity. However, to grasp it and take advantage of the value it can offer, organisations must put people at the heart of AI strategy, nurturing transparency, trust and investing in training and upskilling. By 2035, 10 million workers in the UK alone are expected to be utilising AI in their day-to-day roles, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that by 2027, 2.6 million new jobs will be added by AI. Putting humans at the forefront of AI adoption, organisations can ensure that innovation strengthens wellbeing rather than undermines it.