Loneliness and Insomnia, the Harmful Real Impact of AI on Workers Lives

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The recent rapid advance in generative A.I. and tools like ChatGPT has raised a lot of anxiety. Will our new robots turn on us? Will they take away all the good jobs before they do? The good news is that many well-informed people insist these nightmare scenarios are overhyped. As top venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently wrote in a much chattered about blog post laying out the case for A.I. optimism, “The era of Artificial Intelligence is here, and boy are people freaking out. Fortunately, I am here to bring the good news: AI will not destroy the world.”

But just because you probably shouldn’t lose sleep about the rise of the robot overlords, doesn’t mean entrepreneurs shouldn’t exercise caution when thinking about the impacts of A.I. Aside from well-publicized downsides — like the tendency of these systems to just make stuff up — one new study recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology suggests they seem to be linked to increased loneliness, sleep disruptions, and even more after- work drinking.

Will A.I. make workers even lonely?

The research was conducted by business professor Pok Man Tang, who previously worked in investment banking and spent a lot of time working with A.I. systems. The experience inspired Tang to round up a group of colleagues and study the impacts of lots of A.I.-human interaction.

The workers who relied heavily on A.I. systems reported feeling more lonely and also showed insomnia and after-work alcohol consumption. These results are only correlational — they can’t prove A.I. use caused any of the observed effects. But they’re still concerning, especially given the already sky-high levels of loneliness many workers are dealing with. “Humans are social animals, and isolating work with AI systems may have damaging spillover effects into employees’ personal lives,” commented Tang.