From job anxiety to burnout, the most tech-native generation is questioning whether AI is helping—or hurting—work.
Gen-Z gets slapped with many labels, some ringing more true than others, but we can definitely all agree these youngsters are incredibly tech-savvy. As the first digital native generation, they live and breathe tech—from smartphones to gaming consoles, social media, instant messaging and more. Plenty of reports have also suggested that Gen-Z are leading the charge when it comes to AI, with basically “everyone” using it to help their way through college. So what does it mean when a new study reveals that Gen-Z are now growing wary about this revolutionary innovation? It means trouble. Trouble that might play into your company’s AI plans.
According to new data from polling giant Gallup, over half of U.S. Gen-Z-ers use AI regularly, and fully 52 percent of K-12 students think they’ll have to know AI for their postsecondary education—neatly matching the whole digitally-native narrative. But Gallup’s data also shows that Gen-Z’s feelings about the tech are “souring,” the New York Times wrote. The data says that the share of survey respondents aged 14 to 29 who said they’re “hopeful” about AI has slipped sharply since 2025. It’s now just 18 percent, versus last year’s 27 percent. As well as hopefulness, “excitement” levels about AI have fallen too. And almost one in three agreed AI actually made them feel “angry.”
More interestingly, 48 percent said that they believe the “risks of AI in the workforce outweigh its benefits,” an 11 percentage point rise over last year’s figure. Essentially this means half of the generation for whom tech is as natural a part of life as sliced bread think that it may actually be more dangerous to use this technology at work than to not use it. That’s an astonishingly negative stance.
The Times cites youngsters’ AI worries centering around the threat to entry level jobs and the risk of AI eventually encroaching on careers that they’d been aiming at during their studies. Other concerns include erosion of interaction between humans and rising AI-generated misinformation on social media.
Another report, fresh from an expert on the famous business-centric Lenny’s Podcast, suggests a different reason some may be souring on AI at work.
Simon Willison, a two-decades software engineering veteran and technology advocate, said on the podcast that while he’s embraced AI, and it has helped speed up aspects of his work, sometimes the tech just makes him feel tired out. “Using coding agents well is taking every inch of my 25 years of experience as a software engineer,” he said, adding that it’s “mentally exhausting.”
The software expert said that managing AI agents to help him work can involve hiring “up four agents in parallel and have them work on four different problems,” which taps directly into that famed AI productivity boost. But he added “by 11 a.m., I am wiped out for the day,” Business Insider noted. Willison also explained that AI is creating a type of productivity-anxiety loop, noting that he’d “talked to a lot of people who are losing sleep because they’re like, ‘My agents could be doing work for me, I’m just going to stay up an extra half-hour’.”
Willison is arguing that in some cases AI is so impressive, so addictive, it can burn you out trying to keep up with its promise at work.
There are a handful of take-aways from this for you and your company.
AI is making work more demanding and making burnout come sooner for some. The productivity claim might not be a lie, but can quickly turn to a compulsion, begging the question: is the human brain made to be 100 percent productive? And if Gen-Z, born to use tech, is getting nervous about AI and its impact on the future workplace, should we all be rushing as fast as we are to embrace it?
All these questions may inform your AI adoption plans for your company and your workforce. They could also spur you to take a more pragmatic approach on using AI, including training your staff about your expectations for AI use—including clearly defined limits and metrics.
Warning your workers about the risks of the “infinite workday,” could also be a good move. And if you’re looking to boost employee motivation and retention, you could do worse than highlighting the fact that AI is merely a tool, and it’s people and teamwork that propel your company to success. Essentially if you’re going to double down on AI expansion, you need to double down on supporting your human staff.
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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