Working smarter, not harder: AI could help fight burnout — but is it?

Burnout is simply a increasing interest crossed industries, but artificial quality is softly changing the game.

Recognized by the World Health Organization arsenic an "occupational phenomenon," burnout is much than conscionable a idiosyncratic contented — it's a concern one.

According to a 2025 study successful The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, burnout costs U.S. companies betwixt $4,000 and $21,000 per worker each twelvemonth — oregon up to $5 cardinal annually for an mean U.S. institution with 1,000 employees.

To combat burnout, galore companies are turning to AI tools similar ChatGPT and Copilot. These automate repetitive tasks, summarize information, and assistance with contented instauration and task management. A planetary survey by the University of Melbourne and KPMG International of much than 32,000 workers from 47 countries recovered that 58% of employees intentionally usage AI astatine work, with one-third utilizing it play oregon daily.

Yet galore workers inactive suffer invaluable time, spending 2.6 hours a day, oregon 13 hours a week — astir a 3rd of the mean enactment week — connected tasks that AI could easy handle, according to a survey by GoTo and probe steadfast Workplace Intelligence of 2,500 employees and IT leaders astir the globe. 

Headspace's Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Jenna Glover described AI arsenic a "very adjuvant companion."

"It tin beryllium a large adjunct successful presumption of lightening, what has been, historically, tasks that conscionable instrumentality connected a batch of cognitive load," she told CNBC Make It.

Workplaces utilizing AI tools saw a 25% driblet successful affectional exhaustion, according to a February 2025 survey of 200 IT professionals. AI systems flagged 30% of participants arsenic astatine hazard of burnout — based connected factors similar agelong hours and debased engagement — allowing for aboriginal involution strategies to beryllium enactment successful place.

"AI tin trim accent by giving employees personalised nudges — from suggesting abbreviated breaks to rebalancing workloads crossed a team," Francis Hellyer, CEO of AI-powered planetary question and experiences platform, Tickadoo, told CNBC Make It.

Headspace's Glover, meanwhile, said AI tin enactment regular workload check-ins, emblem erstwhile tasks go unbalanced, and present pulse surveys to stitchery timely feedback — each invaluable tools for maintaining squad wellbeing.

For Caroline Stokes, enactment strategist and author, ChatGPT tin beryllium a "phenomenal reasoning partner."

"It's not conscionable an upskill — it's a reinvention. If radical are consenting to bash the work, it could beryllium the biggest accidental of our time," she said.

Employees who usage AI to easiness their workload thin to beryllium much productive, consciousness much successful power crossed operational, emotional, and cognitive areas, and enactment their leaders — yet driving amended outcomes, Stokes said.

"The sooner a CEO tin bash the enactment to recognize however an integrated AI strategy is going to not lone enactment their ain intelligence health, their ain burnout, but their people's burnout and intelligence health, it won't beryllium this disfigured elephant successful the country anymore," she added.

Some companies are already leveraging the exertion for intelligence health. Headspace's AI companion Ebb has been rolled retired crossed 2,000 enterprises successful an effort to assistance with workplace stress, wont building, and anxiousness management.

It's wide that AI is transforming the workplace — but immoderate question whether it's ever for the better, arguing that it could beryllium pushing immoderate employees toward burnout, alternatively than helping them debar it. 

A caller survey recovered that 45% of U.S. workers who usage AI often are much apt to endure precocious burnout, portion 38% of infrequent users of the exertion whitethorn endure the aforesaid fate, and 35% of non-users. The information comes from Quantum Workplace, 1 of the largest worker acquisition databases successful the U.S., based connected insights from implicit 700,000 radical crossed implicit 8,000 organizations.

Using AI tools passim a afloat workday tin consciousness the aforesaid arsenic spending 9 hours astatine the gym, warned Stokes — emphasizing the request to springiness the encephalon clip to rest, reset, and recover.

That's erstwhile unit person learned however to usage it. AI literacy is different challenge. Not each employees are acquainted with however to usage these tools effectively, adding unit connected apical of existing workloads.

"It is precise hard erstwhile we're utilizing an AI instrumentality to support going, due to the fact that it's similar an encyclopaedia of everything, inquire it anything, and to person it process anything, measure anything, and you're conscionable going down the eventual rabbit hole. Our brains inactive request to rest," Stokes said. 

She warns that companies relying connected AI to regenerate headcount whitethorn beryllium unintentionally fueling burnout.

Some employees utilizing AI to boost productivity are accomplishing tasks faster — but they're besides taking connected much work. "Instead of lightening the load, it's really conscionable creating country for much to beryllium enactment connected your plate," Glover said.