AI and Stress

Given the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) tools at work, understanding their health implications is critically important. We use rich survey data from Finland and apply propensity score matching that accounts for observable differences between regular AI users and non‐users to estimate the relationship between reported AI usage at work and workers’ reported stress. Regular AI use is associated with a 4.4 percentage point higher probability of reporting stress, equivalent to a 25.6% increase relative to baseline. Comparing two competing explanations, we find that this pattern is more consistent with heavier work demands than with concerns about job loss: AI use is associated with more unpaid work outside working hours and, less precisely, with intense work absorption, but not with job insecurity. Exploratory subgroup estimates are larger and individually significant for men, non‐supervisors, unionized workers and employees in medium‐sized workplaces, although the differences across subgroups are not statistically significant.