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Over the past few years, Emma Kobil, a trauma counselor in Denver, began noticing a new topic coming up with her patients: artificial intelligence.
“I have had customers lose their jobs because of AIand that’s something we’ve dealt with in our sessions,” Kobil said. Often they express “shock, disbelief and fear of navigating a evolving career landscape where their skills are no longer needed,” she said.
Other therapists said the technology also upset their patients.
“What I hear most often is the fear of becoming obsolete,” said Harvey Lieberman, a clinical psychologist in New York. “People start to question their judgment, their choices or their future.”
More than a third – or 38% – of workers said they fear that AI will make some or all of their jobs obsolete in the future, according to a July 2025 study. investigation by the American Psychological Association.
These fears are not unfounded, said Denver-based career coach Rhiannon Batchelder.
“Some employees are asked to create arguments for how AI can take over part of their job,” Batchelder said. “Amid news of mass layoffs as CEO salaries continue to rise, replacement by technology appears to be yet another reason to lose hope in the possibility of a stable, fulfilling career.”
AI has been a major factor leading to almost 55,000 layoffs in the United States in 2025, according to December data from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In total, around 1.2 million jobs were lost during the year.
At the same time, a recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that AI can already replace about 11% of the US job market.
Sales forceThe company’s CEO, Marc Benioff, said 4,000 customer service employees were laid off because artificial intelligence was already doing 50% of the work at the company. Other companies that emphasized AI in recent restructurings were technology consulting firms. Accenture and air group Lufthansa.
“People don’t know where they fit in this new society,” said Riana Elyse Anderson, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor at Columbia University. “We probably don’t even know how psychologically damaging this type of replacement is.”
Here’s what therapists have to say about worker anxiety related to artificial intelligence and what they could do to feel better.
“It addresses issues of personal value in depth”
Losing your job to AI can trigger a host of existential questions, said Ben Yalom, a San Diego-based psychotherapist.
“It can feel like the universe is saying, ‘You’re no longer needed,’ which can feel much deeper and more worrying than ‘Our company is downsizing,’ or even ‘You’re not doing a great job,'” Yalom said. “It touches deeply on questions of self-worth, which is very troubling.”
Behind these feelings is usually “a younger part that is terrified of being left behind or not being ‘enough,’ and that fear is amplified because technology itself seems so fast and out of our control,” Kobil said.
People can suffer even more when it’s unclear whether or not a layoff is due to AI, Lieberman said.
“They find themselves in a gray area that amplifies anxiety and doubt,” Lieberman said.
“You are more than your job”
Workers who know or think they’ve lost their jobs to AI — or who are grappling with the changes brought on by the technology — should first “feel the loss,” Kobil said.
“Our society is evolving rapidly,” Kobil said. “Allow yourself to cry 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,” to a “long and thriving career,” Anderson said. This may no longer be the case.
But this disruptive and uncertain moment can also be an opportunity for reflection, Anderson said. As an exercise, she recommends suspending any search to determine what will lead to a stable, lucrative career, “because that may not be fully known now.” Instead, she says, ask yourself: What do you want to do?
“Take an inventory,” Anderson said. “Maybe in that moment, take stock of who you are.” Some people might decide to return to school or change careers, she added.
Our society is changing rapidly.
Emma Kobil
psychotherapist
As you ask yourself deeper questions about what you want, try to create some distance between you and your work, Kobil said.
“We are all going through huge changes,” Kobil said. “We all lose our young bodies, for example, but we are not our bodies, just as we are not our ability to write code or manage others. You are much more than your job.”
Restore “a sense of action”
Although the growing role of AI in the workplace may seem overwhelming, “withdrawal or despair tends to limit options rather than protect them,” Lieberman said.
“Learning enough about AI to understand where it actually changes work and where it doesn’t often restores a sense of agency,” he said.
There is lots of ways to start learning about technology, including certificate programs And free opportunitiesBatchelder said.
“For most workers, understanding the basics of AI will be an asset, especially while we wait to see how the technology evolves,” she said. “In times of uncertainty, information is still powerful.”