Professional exhaustion feels constantly exhausted, emotionally verified from work and struggling to effectively advance things.
Delmaine Donson | E + | Getty images
Professional exhaustion is an increasing concern in industries, but artificial intelligence quietly changes the game.
Recognized by the World Health Organization as a “professional phenomenon”, professional exhaustion is more than a simple personal problem – this is a commercial question.
According to a 2025 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, professional exhaustion costs US companies each year between $ 4,000 and $ 21,000 per employee – or up to $ 5 million per year for an average American company with 1,000 employees.
Chatgpt can be a phenomenal thinking partner. It is not only a Upskill – it is a reinvention. If people are ready to do the work, it could be the greatest opportunity of our time.
Caroline Stokes
Strategist and author of leadership
To combat professional exhaustion, many companies are turning to AI tools like Chatgpt and Copilot. These automatize repetitive tasks, summarize information and help to create content and project management. A global study of the University of Melbourne and KPMG International of more than 32,000 workers from 47 countries revealed that 58% of employees intentionally use AI at work, with a third party using it every week or daily.
However, many workers still waste precious time, spending 2.6 hours a day, or 13 hours a week – around a third of the average work week – on tasks that AI could easily manage, according to a Goto survey and the worktop of work of 2,500 employees and IT managers worldwide.
Headspace clinical director, Dr. Jenna Glover, described AI as a “very useful companion”.
“This can be a large assistant in terms of lighting, which was, historically, tasks that just take many cognitive charges,” she told CNBC.
How does AI help professional exhaustion?
The workplaces using AI tools have seen a 25% drop in emotional exhaustion, according to a February 2025 survey among 200 IT professionals. AI systems have reported 30% of participants as at risk of professional exhaustion – on the basis of factors such as long hours and a low commitment – making it possible to set up early intervention strategies.
“The AI can reduce stress by giving employees personalized elbows – from the suggestion of short breaks to a rebalancing of workloads in a team,” CNBC Francis Hellyer, CEO of the global travel and world experience in AI, told CNBC.
Instead of clarifying the load, it is in fact to create room for more to be put on your plate.
Jenna Glover
Clinical director at the head of space
The Headspace Glover, on the other hand, said that AI can support regular workload records, the flag when the tasks become unbalanced and offer pulse surveys to bring together comments in time – all the precious tools to maintain the well -being of the team.
For Caroline Stokes, strategist and author of leadership, Chatgpt can be a “phenomenal reflection partner”.
“It is not only an increase-it is a reinvention. If people are ready to do the work, it could be the greatest opportunity of our time,” she said.
To combat professional exhaustion, many companies are turning to AI tools like Chatgpt and Copilot.
Sopa images | Lightrocket | Getty images
Employees who use AI to facilitate their workload tend to be more productive, to feel more in control in the operational, emotional and cognitive fields, and to support their leaders – which ultimately leads to better results, said Stokes.
“The sooner a CEO can do the work to understand how an integrated AI system will not only support his own mental health, their own professional exhaustion, but also the professional and mental health of their people, it will no longer be as ugly of elephant in the room,” she added.
Some companies are already taking advantage of mental health technology. The space reflux of the space of space has been deployed in 2,000 companies in order to help stress at work, the construction of habits and the management of anxiety.
But can AI are also part of the problem?
It is clear that the AI transforms the workplace – but some wonder if it is always for the best, arguing that this could push certain employees towards professional exhaustion, rather than helping them to avoid it.
A recent survey has revealed that 45% of American workers who frequently use AI are more likely to undergo a high thickness, while 38% of infrequent users of technology can undergo the same fate and 35% of non-users. The data comes from Quantum Workplace, one of the largest employee experience databases in the United States, based on information of more than 700,000 people in more than 8,000 organizations.
The use of AI tools throughout a working day can feel the same as spending nine hours at the gymnasium, warned Stokes – highlighting the need to give the brain time to rest, reset and recover.
It is once the staff have learned to use it. Another challenge. Not all employees know how to use these tools effectively, adding pressure in addition to existing workloads.
“It is very difficult when we use an AI tool to continue, because it is like an encyclopedia of everything, ask him for anything, and to make it treat anything, assess anything, and you simply descend the ultimate rabbit burrow. Our brains still need to rest,” said Stokes.
It warns that companies that count on AI to replace accommodation can involuntarily feed professional exhaustion.
Some employees using AI to stimulate productivity perform tasks faster – but they also take more work. “Instead of lightening the load, it is actually a question of creating room for more to be put on your plate,” said Glover.
