Constance Noonan Hadley

Sarah L. Wright

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Problem</h5>
  <p>As AI becomes more integrated into work, employees increasingly turn to it not just for task support but for career advice, companionship, coaching, and counseling—treating it like a colleague or friend. Yet despite these interactions, workplace loneliness persists.</p>
  <h5>Why It Happens</h5>
  <p>AI cannot replace the benefits of human connection at work. Without intervention, AI may foster socially isolated jobs, erode people’s motivation to work with and help others, and trigger unhealthful dependence on it.</p>
  <h5>The Solution</h5>
  <p>Monitor AI’s social impact, establish guidelines for its use, design it to promote human interaction, employ it for organizing social activities, and train employees in appropriate AI use.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p class="mag-icon-managing-people-w30">We’ve entered a new era of organizational life when, for the first time in history, people can turn to something other than a fellow human for conversation and support during the workday. They now can engage with AI. But how are employees using AI for social purposes? How is that usage affecting them? In our ongoing research we’ve been trying to answer those questions and understand where this new dynamic might take us in the future.</p>

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<p>Employees are increasingly turning to AI for career advice, emotional support, and even friendship. However, researchers Constance Noonan Hadley of the Institute for Life at Work and Sarah Wright of the University of Canterbury found that despite these interactions, more than half of 1,545 U.S. knowledge workers surveyed felt lonely at work&#8212;a factor linked to lower job satisfaction and greater intent to quit.</p>
<p>Their research suggests that AI cannot replace the benefits of human connection and may erode collaboration, trust, and social skills over time.</p>
<p>The authors recommend taking five measures to prevent those problems: Monitor AI&#8217;s social impact, establish guidelines for its use, design it to foster human interaction, employ it for organizing social activities, and train employees in healthful AI use.</p>

Employees Are Relying on AI for Personal Support. That&rsquo;s Risky.

Employees are increasingly turning to AI for career advice, emotional support, and even friendship. However, researchers Constance Noonan Hadley of the Institute for Life at Work and Sarah Wright of the University of Canterbury found that despite these interactions, more than half of 1,545 U.S. knowledge workers surveyed felt lonely at work—a factor linked to lower job satisfaction and greater intent to quit. Their research suggests that AI cannot replace the benefits of human connection and may erode collaboration, trust, and social skills over time. The authors recommend taking five measures to prevent those problems: Monitor AI’s social impact, establish guidelines for its use, design it to foster human interaction, employ it for organizing social activities, and train employees in healthful AI use.

Employees Are Relying on AI for Personal Support. That’s Risky.

Summary.

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