AI finally delivers the promised productivity gains. But something else slips softly: our connection to each other. While many conversations about AI are fixing on the loss of jobs, new research from the Upwork Research Institute shows a more direct and subject risk. KI accelerates production, but at emotional and relational costs, which indicates a growing lack of trust and clarity through leadership.
The hidden costs for AI-controlled productivity
Global survey by Upwork Of 2,500 C-suite managers, employees and freelancers confirmed what many managers hoped for: AI delivers measurable results. The employees state an increase in productivity of 40%, and 77% of the C-Suite executives state that they will achieve productivity gains by introducing AI last year.
However, employees who report the highest productivity gains due to AI are also the greatest endangered. Among the top AI actors, 88% indicate to feel burned out, and they will be considered twice as often as often. Many of them also feel separated from the wider AI strategy of their organization, since 62% say that they do not understand how their daily use of AI corresponds to the corporate goals.
This separation represents a critical challenge for leadership. Without thoughtful integration, even the most promising technologies can undermine the cohesion and well -being of the team. It is not enough to adopt AI; We have to redesign work systems that support people behind the profits.
The emotional fallout is striking. Among the top KI users say 67% that they trust AI more than their employees, and 64% state that they have a better relationship with AI than with human teammates. 85% say they are more polite for AI than for humans.
The tools that accelerate productivity undermine the social tissue that supports them.
How the efficiency forms the stage for the separation
For decades we have optimized the work for speed and scaling – streamlining operations, cutting meetings, flattening teams and replacing the dialogue with dashboard. AI fits seamlessly into this model and delivers more output with even less friction.
We have withdrawn a large part of the relational glue that holds teams together. Onboarding is rushed. Training budgets shrink. The management dreams stretch. Real conversations are replaced by template instructions, and the space to say that “I don’t” know disappears quietly.
In these cavities steps AI: neat, fast -reacting, not evaluating. It never hears, summarizes and interrupts. No wonder that workers speak more polite than with peers.
For revised employees, AI becomes a psychologically safe place to think out loud. It is no surprise that Therapy and camaraderie Now belong to his top applications.
At first glance, this may seem harmless. However, if the synthetic understanding begins to replace the real human connection, the effects of the individual well -being of innovation, trust and team performance begin.
How independent talent modeled a better way
In contrast to full-time employees, freelancers seem to navigate with a larger agency and resilience to the AI adoption. Almost 9 out of 10 freelancers say that AI has positively influenced their work, and 42% appreciate that they have specialized in a niche. Most use AI as a learning partner, with 90% say that it helps them buy new skills faster.
For comparison: According to AI, only 30% of full-time employees contributed to taking on new projects-and far fewer reporting benefits such as better payment, faster advertising campaigns or improved employment opportunities.
This gap indicates a core insight: agency, trust and autonomy. When people have control over how they use AI, use them to grow, not only to get faster.
And accelerated the demand for AI literate talents. At Upwork, experts have been looking for in the last six months who work with AI agents to work with AI agents. Independent specialists have inevitably developed healthier magnification models, whereby AI increases their value without eroding their human connections. Our data show this 71% The AI usage by freelancers at Upwork focuses on the augmentation and not on automation, which emphasizes a strong preference for the cooperation between man and AI.
Flexible talent ecosystems and psychologically safe environments are not advantages. They are prerequisites for sustainable performance.
How to redesign the work for the connection
In order to counteract AI through the calm shift in human connection, managers must transferred the technical acceptance in the deliberate work of work – one that focuses on relationships again.
It begins to design against mutuality, not just for efficiency. Managers should examine critical workflows and seek where human interaction has been moved out in favor of the speed. Were mentoring opportunities replaced by templates? Is there still spaces for team reflection or open feedback or have these moments been optimized? The reconstruction of deliberate touchpoints-wo people listen, react and learn from each other-the key to maintaining cooperation at a AI-at-driven workplace.
At the same time, we have to rebuild the role of the manager. Many managers are distributed too thin today and monitor too many direct reports with too few tools or time to coach effectively. If we want teams to grow and thrive, managers need the bandwidth and structure to concentrate on development, not just delivery. This can mean that the control flows, the investments in the manager training or the explicit permission to slow down and prohibit managers. Starbucks Is A Great example here. It invests actively and brings more deputy managers into its shops so that the managers can better serve their customers and employees.
We also have to measure what is important. The connection will not thrive if it is invisible. Metrics such as psychological security, peer confidence and cooperation should be followed with the same strict as throughput and KPIs. What you measure, signals what you appreciate – and the employees notice. Microsoft offers a Great case studyAnd decide to measure and develop human flowering instead of engaging, and emphasizes the role of relationships and connections in the role of your own role.
The inclusion of hybrid talent models can also help. Freelancers and independent specialists model a healthy AI introduction in real time. Setting up with flexible partnerships can help to transmit sustainable behavior and standards. Already, 48% From corporate leaders to Upwork say that they include freelancers to support the efforts to support the AI transformation.
AI can establish the connection – if we allow it
The greatest risk of AI is not a loss of job. It is relational. People don’t stop because they fear automation. They stop because they feel invisible, not supported and increasingly feel alone.
Organizations who want to keep their most productive employees must go beyond tools and training to promote the connection, support and orientation.
If we not only have AI replaced on tasks, but also on trust, we will be recorded short -term profits, followed by long -term erosion: increasing wear and tear, stalling innovations and teams that turn inwards rather than on each other.
However, if we work intentionally – so that AI increase human strengths instead of replacing them – we can create a future in which the technology does not reduce the connection, but deepens it.
The future of sustainable productivity is not just AI + human. AI + human + deliberate work is redesigned.
The opinions that were expressed in Fortune.com comments are exclusively the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of against Assets.
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