Why Gen AI Feels So Threatening to Workers

Extractive Summary of the Article | Listen

As gen AI takes over tasks that were once considered uniquely human, workers are starting to perceive their roles and their organizational value differently. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? To explore that question, the authors integrated psychological theories of motivation, performance, and well-being at work and interdisciplinary research on how gen AI affects knowledge, tasks, and the social characteristics of worker productivity and work itself. They found that a lot depends on whether workers feel that gen AI satisfies or frustrates three key psychological needs: competence (the feeling of being effective and capable); autonomy (the feeling of being in control of one’s actions); and relatedness (the feeling of having meaningful interpersonal connections). When those needs are met, employees embrace gen AI as a helpful tool and copilot. But when they’re not, employees feel threatened, at times even existentially, and balk at using gen AI.

According to a 2025 survey by the IT-infrastructure-services company Kyndryl that spanned 25 industries in eight countries, 45% of CEOs believe that most employees are either resistant or openly hostile to the use of gen AI in the workplace. A significant part of the problem is that most companies lack a change management strategy for implementing gen AI and don’t provide formal training to help employees use it. Given those deficiencies, it’s not surprising that a rift has opened between leaders and managers on the one hand and workers on the other: A 2025 survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that 85% of leaders and 78% of managers regularly use gen AI, whereas only 51% of workers do.

To help leaders facilitate the adoption of gen AI in the workplace, the authors have designed the AWARE framework, which consists of five actions leaders can take. Leaders should Acknowledge workers’ psychological needs; Watch for adaptive and maladaptive coping behaviors; Align support systems with the psychological needs of their workers; Redesign roles to foster human–gen-AI complementarities; and Empower workers through transparency and participation.