Artificial intelligence will make many jobs unnecessary! Another company wants to cut thousands of jobs! Now it’s happening to them too Highly qualified people in the office! In 2025, “AI era” was declared the word of the year – and it was always about that: job security. How many will disappear, when and which ones?
In addition to these gloomy reports, there is always a forecast that is supposed to bring hope. In studies from Bitkom Associationthe big one economic institutes and from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says something like: Artificial intelligence can relieve us of monotonous and boring tasks. Finally, it is said, there is more space for what is important and essential, for more creative, more complex thinking. But not everything that sounds like progress is actually a gain.
Monotonous tasks have an underestimated function: If they are on the to-do list, you don’t have to make big decisions all day long, be constantly attentive and original. They offer the mind short breaks on long working days. If they disappear, the job can make people tired of thinking. Anyone who concentrates extremely hard for hours and thinks through complex topics or problems will eventually die mentally exhausted. Concentration wanes. You feel mentally drained, similar to a muscle after too much strength training.
The majority of employees are already suffering from increasing stress
Of course, some monotonous activities are actually a waste of time. Anyone who just types out data every day, finds it boring and sees no point in what they do will gratefully hand over such tasks and benefit from automation. Also Under-challenged can make you sick. At the same time, there is a risk of making the world of work even more stressful with the narrative that annoying tasks will end.
The majority of employees are already complaining increasing stress and exhaustion. Doctors and health insurance companies are warning massively about the increasing number of mental illnesses, particularly due to burnout or depression. The most stressful things are overtime, tight deadlines, and the expectation of constant availability – and that too Variety of digital communication toolswhich fragment everyday working life and blur the line between work and private life so much that an eight-hour day quickly turns into one with two or four short answers to the boss.
In the past, it has often been promised that technical innovations will simplify work and relieve people’s workload. But studies prove itthat digitalization, in addition to its advantages, definitely brings with it unreasonable demands. Yes, an email or reply via Slack is quick, but you get a lot of it, all the time. Sure, you can also work at home with a laptop, but that’s why the boss doesn’t take the end of the work day so seriously – can you take a quick look?
The brain cannot work at full speed endlessly
It is questionable whether AI, of all things, will lead to more time for more fulfilling activities. Or whether this space should instead be filled in such a way that everyone should work even more efficiently, better and faster. Soon the boss could say: Oh, come on, it’ll be quick, ChatGPT will answer my question in five seconds! Or the supervisor criticizes: The chatbot could have written that to me, that’s not enough! If work with AI develops in this way, more people may be overwhelmed in the future than already – and ultimately sick.
The brain cannot work at full speed endlessly. You also need less strenuous phases of the day to process information and regenerate. Without idle time and a bit of boredom, jobs can become too demanding – and then employees become not at all more creative. On the contrary. The best ideas don’t always arise under pressure in a meeting, but often incidentally, when your head doesn’t have to do anything for a while.
And then there is life outside of work, which for many people has a similar schedule. Anyone who barely slept last night because their child kept calling because of nightmares, someone who has a head full of worries or simply can’t concentrate well, is grateful for tasks that don’t require genius. For a bit of sorting, clicking, filling, a bit of plodding. Humans are not machines that constantly work perfectly at the push of a button. He shouldn’t have to.
