AI adoption increases job stress, burnout risk for workers, study finds

A 2024 study by Byung-Jik Kim and Julak Lee, based on a survey of 418 South Korean professionals, finds that AI adoption in the workplace does not directly cause burnout but significantly increases job stress, which then predicts burnout. The research, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, highlights four forms of techno-stress: techno-overload, techno-insecurity, techno-complexity, and techno-uncertainty. These pressures leave employees feeling less autonomous and more like extensions of algorithmic systems, contributing to emotional exhaustion and disengagement.

The study applies three psychological theories, the Job Demands-Resources model, Conservation of Resources theory, and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, to explain how AI deployment affects mental health. It finds that workers with low confidence in learning AI (low self-efficacy) are more prone to helplessness and burnout. The authors argue that it is not AI itself but how it is governed and integrated into organisational environments that harms employees. Burnout in the algorithmic era is now rooted in disconnection and digital overload, not just overwork.