Sustainability paradox of artificial intelligence adoption for workers’ wellbeing

Since artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way services are delivered, current research has largely focused on performance effects, overlooking the long-term sustainability effects on employees’ psychological well-being. This conceptual paper aims to fill this gap by articulating a sustainability paradox that occurs when AI is adopted to enhance the efficiency of an organization but can also have a detrimental effect on employee well-being and long-term sustainability. Our framework combines self-determination theory (SDT) and recovery theory, suggesting that the use of AI negatively affects psychological need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness), leading to psychological distress and a decline in human sustainability. The model also suggests that the negative relationship between employee AI literacy and culture of AI is tempered by human-centered AI practices such as transparency, employee involvement, AI literacy training, and human oversight. The paper builds on the growing body of research on responsible AI by moving from an efficiency-focused lens to a human sustainability lens. Managerial implications involve implementing participatory AI design, preserving discretion of employees, assessing psychical health and well-being, and synchronizing AI adoption with sustainable development goals (SDG 3, 8, and 9). The framework can be used as a basis for empirical testing in various organizational and cultural environments.