Artificial intelligence promises to make us more productive, but for many employees it comes with a new source of stress: the need to constantly learn new skills. A study published in Frontiers introduces the concept of “reskilling fatigue” – the fatigue caused by continuous learning imposed by the accelerated pace of technological change. Researchers warn that the phenomenon can promote anxiety, burnout and low self-confidence, especially among experienced professionals.
Until recently, professional experience was one of the most valuable assets on the job market. Today, however, even employees with decades of experience are forced to constantly participate in courses and training programs to keep up with the evolution of artificial intelligence. Study authors AI-driven Skill Volatility and the Emergence of Re-skilling Fatigue: The Human Cost of Perpetual Learning I argue that the problem is not the desire to learn, but the fact that professional development has become a permanent obligation, maintained by the fear that any break may mean losing relevance in the labor market.
The most vulnerable are mid-career professionals who have built their professional identity on the basis of experience accumulated over time. Rather than providing them with stability, acquired expertise risks quickly becoming devalued, and the pressure to continually learn can fuel a vicious cycle of fatigue, anxiety and decreased motivation.
AI doesn’t make people work less
This conclusion is also supported by research published in February 2026 in the Harvard Business Review, “AI Doesn’t Reduce Work – It Intensifies It”. For eight months, researchers Aruna Ranganathan and Xingqi Maggie Ye analyzed how the use of generative artificial intelligence changed work at an American technology company with about 200 employees. The conclusion contradicts one of the most widely held promises about AI: Increased productivity has not translated into less work.
Employees began to take on tasks they previously delegated to other colleagues, work on multiple projects simultaneously, and extend their schedules beyond regular hours. Because many activities have become easier to start, people have accepted more and more responsibilities, and the line between professional and personal time has blurred.
“You think if AI makes you more productive, you’ll work less. In reality, you’re not working less. You’re working just as much or even more.” said one of the study participants.
The authors of the study from Frontiers argue that the responsibility for adaptation cannot be left solely on the shoulders of employees. They recommend that organizations allocate time for learning in the work schedule, set clear priorities about the skills to be developed, and avoid implementing technological change at a pace that does not allow people to consolidate what they have learned.
The conclusions of the Harvard Business Review research go in the same direction: companies must treat artificial intelligence not only as a tool to increase productivity, but also as a factor that can amplify the volume and pace of work. Without clear boundaries and real recovery periods, the benefits of AI can come with overwork, burnout, and higher staff turnover.
In a job market where technology is evolving faster than ever, the challenge is no longer just learning something new. The challenge is to be able to learn continuously without burning out. And if the researchers’ warnings are confirmed, companies’ competitive advantage will no longer depend only on how quickly they adopt artificial intelligence, but also on how well they manage to protect their people in the process.
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How to stay relevant without burning out
In an interview previously granted to “Adevărul”, Madi Rădulescu, Master Certified Coach (MCC) and managing partner of MMM Consulting International, drew attention to the fact that, in the context of the accelerated development of artificial intelligence, digital skills no longer represent a competitive advantage, but a basic condition to remain relevant on the labor market.
“Digital skills have entered our mainstream language and anyone who wants to stay relevant needs to learn to work with some AI applications, understand how to use them, what to ask of them and how to formulate requirements,” explain this to “Truth”.
However, the specialist says that adaptation does not mean trying to keep up with every new application, but learning constantly and selectively, choosing the tools that are really useful in the field in which you work.
“The habit of constantly scanning industry-specific applications, perhaps even weekly, to understand who does what, what they are good at and which ones are worth using or paying for must become part of our professional reality”, recommends Madi Rădulescu.
She points out that as AI takes over more and more technical and repetitive tasks, the difference will be made by skills that technology can’t replicate.
“Human interaction, empathy, attention and presence cannot be replaced by technology, no matter how advanced it is. Although productivity increases greatly, people’s ability to create a sense of team and solidarity will not be able to be created with artificial intelligence.” supported this.
What happens when we delegate the thinking process to AI
In addition to the pressure to learn all the time, the researchers point to another risk: overuse of artificial intelligence can reduce cognitive effort and impair critical thinking over time. A study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research of 319 employees found that people who had more confidence in the answers provided by AI put in less analytical effort when using these tools. In the same direction, an MIT research observed that ChatGPT users showed less cognitive engagement and had a harder time remembering their own arguments than those who wrote texts without the help of artificial intelligence.
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Clinical psychologist Gabriela Marc, associate university lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, previously stated for “Adevărul” that the problem is not the existence of artificial intelligence, but the tendency to delegate to it essential processes for our cognitive development.
“From a psychological perspective, the problem is not that we use artificial intelligence. Humans have always created tools to make their lives easier and expand their possibilities. The difficulty arises when a tool, originally created to support human development, begins to replace processes that were designed to be formed through direct experience, through exercise, through trial and error, and through confronting the unknown.” explain this.
To illustrate the phenomenon, Gabriela Marc compares it to the unnecessary immobilization of a healthy limb. At first it seems more comfortable to avoid the effort, but over time, what you no longer exercise begins to weaken. In the same way, says the psychologist, if we automatically turn to artificial intelligence for any activity that requires reflection, we risk using our own analytical and decision-making capacities less and less.
“When we constantly outsource these processes to artificial intelligence, we risk losing not just the exercise of a skill, but something much more subtle: the confidence that we can think, create and decide by our own resources,” warned Gabriela Marc.
