‘A fear of becoming obsolete’

Over the last few years, Emma Kobil, a trauma counselor in Denver, started noticing a new topic coming up with her patients: artificial intelligence.

“I’ve had clients lose their jobs due to AI, and it’s something we’ve processed in our sessions,” Kobil said. Often, they express “shock, disbelief and fear about navigating a changing career landscape where their skills are no longer needed,” she said.

Other therapists said the technology is also vexing their patients.

“What I hear most often is a fear of becoming obsolete,” said Harvey Lieberman, a clinical psychologist in New York. “People start questioning their judgment, their choices or their future.”

More than a third — or 38% — of workers said they worry AI will make some or all of their job duties outdated in the future, according to a July 2025 survey by the American Psychological Association.

These fears are not unfounded, said Rhiannon Batchelder, a career coach based in Denver.

“Some employees are being asked to create pitches for how AI can take over portions of their job,” Batchelder said. “Among news of mass layoffs while CEO pay continues to rise, being replaced by technology just feels like another reason to lose hope in the possibility of a stable, fulfilling career.”

AI was a major factor leading to nearly 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. in 2025, according to December data from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Overall, around 1.2 million jobs were cut in the year.

Meanwhile, a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that AI can already replace around 11% of the U.S. labor market.

Salesforce‘s CEO, Marc Benioff, said 4,000 customer support workers had been let go because artificial intelligence was already doing 50% of the work at the company. Other companies that pointed to AI in recent restructuring moves were tech consultancy firm Accenture and airline group Lufthansa.

“People don’t know where they fit into this new society,” said Riana Elyse Anderson, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor at Columbia University. “We probably don’t even know the full extent of how psychologically damaging this type of replacement is.”

Here’s what therapists have to say about workers’ artificial intelligence anxiety, and what they may be able to do to feel better.

Losing your job to AI can trigger a host of existential questions, said Ben Yalom, a San Diego-based psychotherapist.

“It may feel as if the universe is saying, ‘You are no longer needed,’ which may feel much more profound and disturbing than ‘Our company is downsizing,’ or even ‘You are not doing a great job,'” Yalom said. “It goes deeply into questions of personal value, which is all very unsettling.”

Underneath these feelings is usually “a younger part that’s terrified of being left behind or not being ‘enough,’ and that fear gets amplified because the technology itself feels so fast and out of our control,” Kobil said.

People can suffer even more when it’s unclear whether or not a layoff was due to AI, Lieberman said.

“They are left in a gray zone that magnifies anxiety and self-doubt,” Lieberman said.

Workers who know or think they lost their jobs to AI — or are grappling with the changes brought on by the technology — should first “feel the loss,” Kobil said.

“Our society is changing quickly,” Kobil said. “Allow yourself to grieve and comfort the parts of you that feel shocked, hopeless and afraid right now.”

For decades, studying computer science and learning to code was “your ticket to success,” for a “long, thriving career,” Anderson said. That may no longer be the case.

But the disruptive and uncertain moment can also be a chance for reflection, Anderson said. As an exercise, she recommends pausing any quest to pin down what will lead to a stable, lucrative career, “because that might not be totally known now.” Instead, she said, ask yourself: What do you want to do?

“Do some inventory,” Anderson said. “Maybe at this time, take stock of who you are.” Some people may decide to return to school or make a career change, she added.

As you ask yourself deeper questions about what you want, try to create some distance between you and your work, Kobil said.

“We all experience huge change,” Kobil said. “We all lose our young bodies, for example, but we are not our bodies, just like we are not our ability to write code or manage others. You are so much more than your work.”

While the growing role of AI in the workplace can feel overwhelming, “retreating into avoidance or despair tends to narrow options rather than protect them,” Lieberman said.

“Learning enough about AI to understand where it genuinely alters work, and where it does not, often restores a sense of agency,” he said.

There are plenty of ways to start learning about the technology, including certificate programs and free opportunities, Batchelder said.

“For most workers, understanding the basics of AI will be an asset, especially as we wait to see how the technology advances,” she said. “During times of uncertainty, information is always powerful.”