Working smarter, not harder: AI could help fight burnout — but is it?

Burnout is a growing concern across industries, but artificial intelligence is quietly changing the game.

Recognized by the World Health Organization as an “occupational phenomenon,” burnout is more than just a personal issue — it’s a business one.

According to a 2025 study in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, burnout costs U.S. companies between $4,000 and $21,000 per employee each year — or up to $5 million annually for an average U.S. company with 1,000 employees.

To combat burnout, many companies are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot. These automate repetitive tasks, summarize information, and assist with content creation and project management. A global study by the University of Melbourne and KPMG International of more than 32,000 workers from 47 countries found that 58% of employees intentionally use AI at work, with one-third using it weekly or daily.

Yet many workers still lose valuable 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 handle, according to a survey by GoTo and research firm Workplace Intelligence of 2,500 employees and IT leaders around the globe. 

Headspace’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Jenna Glover described AI as a “very helpful companion.”

“It can be a great assistant in terms of lightening, what has been, historically, tasks that just take on a lot of cognitive load,” she told CNBC Make It.

Workplaces using AI tools saw a 25% drop in emotional exhaustion, according to a February 2025 survey of 200 IT professionals. AI systems flagged 30% of participants as at risk of burnout — based on factors like long hours and low engagement — allowing for early intervention strategies to be put in place.

“AI can reduce stress by giving employees personalised nudges — from suggesting short breaks to rebalancing workloads across a team,” Francis Hellyer, CEO of AI-powered global travel and experiences platform, Tickadoo, told CNBC Make It.

Headspace’s Glover, meanwhile, said AI can support regular workload check-ins, flag when tasks become unbalanced, and deliver pulse surveys to gather timely feedback — all valuable tools for maintaining team wellbeing.

For Caroline Stokes, leadership strategist and author, ChatGPT can be a “phenomenal thinking partner.”

“It’s not just an upskill — it’s a reinvention. If people are willing to do the work, it could be the biggest opportunity of our time,” she said.

Employees who use AI to ease their workload tend to be more productive, feel more in control across operational, emotional, and cognitive areas, and support their leaders — ultimately driving better outcomes, Stokes said.

“The sooner a CEO can do the work to understand how an integrated AI system is going to not only support their own mental health, their own burnout, but their people’s burnout and mental health, it won’t be this ugly elephant in the room anymore,” she added.

Some companies are already leveraging the technology for mental health. Headspace’s AI companion Ebb has been rolled out across 2,000 enterprises in an effort to help with workplace stress, habit building, and anxiety management.

It’s clear that AI is transforming the workplace — but some question whether it’s always for the better, arguing that it could be pushing some employees toward burnout, rather than helping them avoid it. 

A recent survey found that 45% of U.S. workers who use AI frequently are more likely to suffer high burnout, while 38% of infrequent users of the technology may suffer the same fate, and 35% of non-users. The data comes from Quantum Workplace, one of the largest employee experience databases in the U.S., based on insights from over 700,000 people across over 8,000 organizations.

Using AI tools throughout a full workday can feel the same as spending nine hours at the gym, warned Stokes — emphasizing the need to give the brain time to rest, reset, and recover.

That’s once staff have learned how to use it. AI literacy is another challenge. Not all employees are familiar with how to use these tools effectively, adding pressure on top of existing workloads.

“It is very hard when we’re using an AI tool to keep going, because it’s like an encyclopaedia of everything, ask it anything, and to have it process anything, evaluate anything, and you’re just going down the ultimate rabbit hole. Our brains still need to rest,” Stokes said. 

She warns that companies relying on AI to replace headcount may be unintentionally fueling burnout.

Some employees using AI to boost productivity are accomplishing tasks faster — but they’re also taking on more work. “Instead of lightening the load, it’s actually just creating room for more to be put on your plate,” Glover said.