Two researchers are warning of the devastating psychological impacts that AI automation, or the threat of it, can have on the workforce. The phenomenon, they argue in a new article published in the journal Cureus, warrants a new term: AI replacement dysfunction (AIRD).
The constant fear of losing your job could be driving symptoms ranging from anxiety, insomnia, paranoia, and loss of identity, according to the authors, which can manifest even in absence of other psychiatric disorders or other factors like substance abuse.
“AI displacement is an invisible disaster,” co-lead author Joseph Thornton, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Florida, said in a statement about the work. “As with other disasters that affect mental health, effective responses must extend beyond the clinician’s office to include community support and collaborative partnerships that foster recovery.”
Most of the attention on AI’s mental health impacts has centered on the effects of personally using the tech, with widespread reports of AI pulling users into psychotic episodes or encouraging dangerous behavior. But the stress that arises from the widespread fears surrounding the tech might deserve a closer look in a clinical context, too.
Job destruction is probably one of the biggest fears. A Reuters survey found that 71 percent of Americans are worried that AI could permanently put vast swaths of people out of work. The narrative is pushed by top figures in the industry. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, for example, infamously warned that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white collar jobs. Microsoft’s AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman added last week that AI could automate “most, if not all” white collar tasks within a year and a half.
There’re plenty of reasons to question these claims, but some number of AI-related layoffs are already happening. Amazon is in the middle of sacking 14,000 employees after boasting of the “efficiency gains” from using AI across the company. And one report found that AI was cited in the announcements of more than 54,000 layoffs last year.
Enter AIRD. In the paper, the authors cite one study that showed a positive correlation between AI implementation in the workplace and anxiety and depression. Another cited study found that stress and other negative emotions are common for professionals in fields that are considered susceptible to AI automation.
Co-lead author Stephanie McNamara, a psychology student at the University of Florida, said she coined the dysfunction after noticing a rise in AI-induced layoffs last year. “It made me think about the mental health impacts it is going to have on society,” she said in the statement.
According to the authors, AIRD will present uniquely for each sufferer, but will generally revolve around a cluster of symptoms including professional identity loss and loss of purpose. Some patients may even be in denial of AI’s relevance as a “defense mechanism,” they wrote. These may initially be foreshadowed with complaints related to insomnia and stress. The distress will not be “rooted in traditional psychopathology,” the authors add, “but in the existential threat of professional obsolescence.”
AIRD is not a clinically recognized diagnosis yet, the authors stress. But they propose a method for screening for the disorder through a careful progression of open-ended questions that should eliminate other causes like substance abuse. It’s important to recognize these as uniquely stemming from AI-related anxieties, they argue, because with the tech’s rise, more clinicians will encounter patients whose symptoms don’t arise from primary psychiatric disorders.
“Equipping mental health professionals with the knowledge and tools to recognize and treat people with AIRD will be vital for societal acceptance of a condition that will increasingly affect the workplace,” the researchers wrote.
More on AI: Economist Warns That the Poor Will Bear the Brunt of AI’s Effects on the Job Market
The post It’s Psychologically Devastating for Workers to Constantly Be Told They’re Being Replaced by AI, Paper Finds appeared first on Futurism.
