Fears about AI taking our jobs are understandable – but harmful

As a professor of the future of work, the question I get asked most often is whether AI is going to take everyone’s jobs.

I hear it from students who worry that their degrees will be obsolete before they graduate. I hear it from office workers watching new tools appear in their software. And I hear it from people working in retail and logistics and hospitality and admin, who all suspect that their jobs put them most at risk^[1].

The issue has become a widespread worry in the workplace^[2]. And of course, I understand why people are worried.

Because for a very long time, technology has been sold to employers as a way of achieving more^[3] with a smaller workforce. When new tech arrives, it often means cutting costs.

So far though, AI has not led^[4] to mass unemployment, and society’s use of the technology is, and will probably continue to be, nuanced and complex.

Yet blunt headlines declaring that “AI will take your job” are hard to ignore. And they can place workers in a passive position, where they end up waiting fearfully to see whether they will be part of the technological cull.

But we also need to be wary of the fear itself. For fear is not just a private and unpleasant feeling – fear changes how people behave and how they relate to society^[5].

Nor is AI-driven anxiety evenly distributed. Some professionals with stable contracts will have the luxury of treating AI as an efficiency tool, something that removes tedious tasks^[6] and speeds up routine work.

But others, who work in call centres or data entry, where tasks are repetitive, measurable and tightly monitored, often see AI as something that could remove the substance of their job. For these people, the AI revolution does not feel like an upgrade, it feels like a countdown to unemployment^[7].

And this is why the perceived threat matters. Because even before jobs disappear, the fear of losing them can reshape lives. Research shows that people who believe their livelihoods are at risk are understandably less willing to plan for the future^[8].

They may delay major decisions because they feels pointless or unaffordable. They may disengage from work because they assume loyalty will not be rewarded.

Anxiety goes up, morale falls and the workplace becomes a site of uncertainty. And then the idea that AI will take over jobs becomes not just an economic problem but also a psychological one.

For work is not simply a way to pay the bills. To many people it is a vital source of identity, dignity and social connection^[9]. And when work feels under threat, people can feel personally diminished.

After all, if the tasks you have built your life around are suddenly described as something AI could do, it is hard not to infer that your efforts are (and have been) of little value; that you are replaceable and that your contribution no longer matters.

This is where fear turns into alienation, and its effects move beyond the workplace. Over time, that loss of trust can harden into cynicism about society itself^[10].

Anxiety about automation can then blend into wider questions about inequality^[11]. And if millions of workers believe they are one software update away from redundancy, that belief can be socially destabilising.

What matters then is how AI is integrated into workplaces, and whether that integration supports people’s ability to keep working on fair and predictable terms. This requires transparency^[13] and the involvement of the workers themselves. Above all, it is essential to give those workers a say in how AI affects their tasks, their pace of work, and the metrics by which they are assessed.

Because while AI will reshape work, the future should not be predetermined by the technology itself. And the greatest risk may not be that AI replaces everyone overnight, but that the fear of replacement becomes widespread and corrosive – damaging wellbeing, undermining dignity and building resentment^[14].

So we should absolutely take the threat of AI seriously. But we should also stop treating AI as an unstoppable force, and start treating it as something that can be shaped by society.

And the next time someone asks me whether AI is going to take people’s jobs, I will still answer honestly – that without proper consideration, there is a chance that systems will be implemented which change the way we work and damage personal dignity and economic stability.

But I will also try to address the more important question about what society can do to mitigate this damage – and make sure that the fear of AI doesn’t become a major crisis in itself.

References

1. ^{^} most at risk (theconversation.com)
2. ^{^} widespread worry in the workplace (www.cnbc.com)
3. ^{^} achieving more (books.google.co.uk)
4. ^{^} not led (theconversation.com)
5. ^{^} relate to society (link.springer.com)
6. ^{^} removes tedious tasks (theconversation.com)
7. ^{^} countdown to unemployment (www.sciencedirect.com)
8. ^{^} plan for the future (academic.oup.com)
9. ^{^} source of identity, dignity and social connection (link.springer.com)
10. ^{^} cynicism about society itself (journals.sagepub.com)
11. ^{^} questions about inequality (papers.ssrn.com)
12. ^{^} Stock-Asso/Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com)
13. ^{^} requires transparency (www.aeaweb.org)
14. ^{^} building resentment (repository.tilburguniversity.edu)