Table of Contents
What Is AI Anxiety? Understanding the Fear of Artificial Intelligence
Why AI Is Triggering Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Stress
How to Cope with AI Anxiety: 10 Therapist-Recommended Strategies
Managing Catastrophic Thoughts About AI and the Future
Protecting Your Mental Health in the Age of AI
When to Seek Therapy for AI Anxiety and Technology-Related Stress
If you’re struggling with anxiety, Expansive Therapy has immediate openings for Anxiety Therapy in New York and California. Reach out today for a free consult.
We are currently experiencing the beginning of a large collective upwelling of anxiety due to the rapid advance of AI. Some of this anxiety is conscious, i.e. nerves about losing a job or creative value, and some is unconscious, i.e. a vague feeling of unease about upcoming changes to our lives and the collective system we live in. These feelings now have a label that many therapists believe will continue to grow rapidly in the coming years: AI anxiety.
What is AI Anxiety?
AI anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry, or stress about the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and the way it might change our lives, our sense of safety and security, our value in the capitalist market, our privacy, and/or the sense of control or agency we have in our lives.
Given the constant headlines about the rapid development and disruption of AI in the coming years, this anxiety is completely valid and expected. The question is how do we cope with it? Here are 10 tips from a therapist.
10 Therapist Tips for dealing with AI Anxiety
Accept the feeling
The more we deny a feeling, the more power it takes on internally. The more we accept it, the more it becomes a passing state. It’s likely that AI anxiety is going to increase in the coming years, and so it’s important to identify the feeling now and accept it. Maybe each article you see about AI brings a vague uneasiness to your system. Maybe you have a slight discomfort about the writing ability of AI and how that might impact your own writing, or maybe you have high levels of anxiety about possible layoffs at your job due to AI. Can you bring awareness and acceptance to the justified fear and worry that you’re experiencing.
Normalize the feeling
Remind yourself that you are not alone in feeling this anxiety, and that anxiety is a very natural response to periods of change, and especially drastic change. Anxiety is adaptive, and it’s coming up to warn you that something important is happening, and to do what you can to prepare.
A great way to normalize your AI anxiety is to talk to people you know about it. You’ll quickly discover that you are not alone and the anxiety will become less intense as a result.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, Expansive Therapy has immediate openings for Anxiety Therapy in New York and California. Reach out today for a free consult.
Get to know the anxious part
We want to try to bring curiosity and compassion to our AI anxiety as opposed to avoidance or judgment. Take a moment to connect to the anxiety internally. Be curious about what it’s trying to communicate to you. Try to bring compassion to this part of you.
Often when we are able to bring curious and compassionate energy to our anxiety, it softens and gives way to deeper emotions. Maybe there’s grief under your anxiety about losing the career or life you had imagined for yourself. Maybe there’s anger. If we can gently let those emotions surface within a safe container, we have the opportunity to let them pass through us as well, and our attitude towards AI might shift with this release.
Get to know AI
When computers first came out in the 80’s and 90’s, there was a direct correlation in research between unfamiliarity with computers and anxiety about computers. This was labeled “computer anxiety,” and was mostly about people being afraid that they would make mistakes, look incompetent, or be unable to learn how to use a computer. As people gained experience with computers and the internet, their anxiety about both went down.
We fear what we do not know. The good news is that AI is easily accessible to everyone right now, and becoming familiar with how it operates will likely help to soothe your anxiety. Go to ChatGPT, Google AI, or Claude and ask it a few questions, start a conversation and see how you feel afterwards. You can even ask it to make a prediction about its own progression in the coming years.
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Notice the catastrophizing thoughts, and invite complexity back in
When the ground is shifting beneath our feet, we typically have a part of our mind that catastrophizes, or comes up with the worst case scenario and makes it seem like an inevitability. This is our mind’s way of protecting us from the worst and inviting us to prepare for the possibilities, but it’s important to recognize this survival strategy for what it is, and not to buy into it completely.
We can listen to the part of us that tells us that AI will take all our jobs and cause the downfall of humanity, and we can assure that part that it’s being heard while inviting the complexity of the situation back in as well. AI will continue to disrupt our world at high speeds, but we don’t know exactly how, and what opportunities will arise for humanity as a result of AI.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, Expansive Therapy has immediate openings for Anxiety Therapy in New York and California. Reach out today for a free consult.
Avoid competing with AI when possible
Therapists often use the phrase “compare, despair,” and that has historically meant that comparing ourselves to other people is a recipe for suffering. However, we are entering a new era where comparison is less about human to human, and more about human to AI. And with AI progressing so quickly and powerfully, these comparisons can quickly lead to anxiety.
It’s easy to get caught up in comparing ourselves to AI and attaching our worth to that anxiety, and some of the perfectionistic “Maxxing” trends that we’ve seen are likely a manifestation of this form of AI anxiety. But it’s important to remember that we as humans are different than AI. We have different strengths and different weaknesses. The more we can accept that, the more we can come into healthy relationship with AI.
If you find yourself competing with AI, take a pause. Get to know the competitive part of yourself. What is that part chasing? What is that part afraid of? Is there a healthier way to move towards the same goal?
Invest in your mental health
One thing that AI will certainly not change is the basics of human mental health. We need sleep, a decent diet, regular exercise, and authentic connection to other people and the natural world in order to maintain our mental health.
When you’re experiencing AI anxiety, remember to go back to the basics.
Invest in humanity
One aspect of AI anxiety is about the atrophy of the human mind. If AI takes all our skills away or removes all the friction from our lives, will this result in collective brain rot?
However, human relationships will always have friction and will always require effort. Investing in human relationships and building intimacy with friends, family, or a partner can powerfully counteract the atrophy we might experience due to AI. Identify the people in your life who make your nervous system feel relaxed, and think about how you might invest more in those people.
Disconnect
You’ve heard it a thousand times, and it also seems to get harder every year. Take time away from technology in whatever way works for you. Get into nature. Go underwater. Go to a class. Garden.
Think about building your tech free life up rather than cutting your phone time down, this way you are not motivated by shame. What do you actually enjoy that also takes you away from tech? How can you invest a bit more of your time into that activity?
Consider human therapy
Human therapy provides a safe container and a trusted relationship to work through all the aspects of your AI anxiety, including the irrational and shameful parts. It also provides the opportunity to explore any deeper emotions like grief or anger beneath the AI anxiety. Perhaps most importantly, human therapy undoes aloneness and provides authentic emotional connection, which can serve as a powerful antidote to anxiety.
AI Anxiety Therapy at Expansive Therapy
If you’re experiencing AI anxiety, you’re not alone, and therapy can be a good place to start working through it and making it more manageable.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, Expansive Therapy has immediate openings for Anxiety Therapy in New York and California.
Reach out today for a free consult, or check out our homepage.
What researchers mean by AI anxiety
Studies usually break it into a few related concerns:
Job displacement anxiety: fear that AI will replace human work or reduce job security.
Loss-of-control anxiety: worry that AI systems will make decisions humans can’t fully understand or override.
Information overload / trust anxiety: uncertainty about whether AI-generated content is accurate or misleading.
Existential or societal anxiety: broader fears about AI’s long-term impact (surveillance, autonomy, inequality, or misuse).
Notice the catastrophizing thoughts, and invite complexity back in
When the ground is shifting beneath our feet, we typically have a part of our mind that catastrophizes, or comes up with the worst case scenario and makes it seem like an inevitability. This is our mind’s way of protecting us from the worst and inviting us to prepare for the possibilities, but it’s important to recognize this survival strategy for what it is, and not to buy into it completely.
We can listen to the part of us that tells us that AI will take all our jobs and cause the downfall of humanity, and we can assure that part that it’s being heard while inviting the complexity of the situation back in as well. AI will continue to disrupt our world at high speeds, but we don’t know exactly how, and what opportunities will arise for humanity as a result of AI.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, Expansive Therapy has immediate openings for Anxiety Therapy in New York and California. Reach out today for a free consult.
Avoid competing with AI when possible
Therapists often use the phrase “compare, despair,” and that has historically meant that comparing ourselves to other people is a recipe for suffering. However, we are entering a new era where comparison is less about human to human, and more about human to AI. And with AI progressing so quickly and powerfully, these comparisons can quickly lead to anxiety.
It’s easy to get caught up in comparing ourselves to AI and attaching our worth to that anxiety, and some of the perfectionistic “Maxxing” trends that we’ve seen are likely a manifestation of this form of AI anxiety. But it’s important to remember that we as humans are different than AI. We have different strengths and different weaknesses. The more we can accept that, the more we can come into healthy relationship with AI.
If you find yourself competing with AI, take a pause. Get to know the competitive part of yourself. What is that part chasing? What is that part afraid of? Is there a healthier way to move towards the same goal?
Invest in your mental health
One thing that AI will certainly not change is the basics of human mental health. We need sleep, a decent diet, regular exercise, and authentic connection to other people and the natural world in order to maintain our mental health.
When you’re experiencing AI anxiety, remember to go back to the basics.
Invest in humanity
One aspect of AI anxiety is about the atrophy of the human mind. If AI takes all our skills away or removes all the friction from our lives, will this result in collective brain rot?
However, human relationships will always have friction and will always require effort. Investing in human relationships and building intimacy with friends, family, or a partner can powerfully counteract the atrophy we might experience due to AI. Identify the people in your life who make your nervous system feel relaxed, and think about how you might invest more in those people.
Disconnect
You’ve heard it a thousand times, and it also seems to get harder every year. Take time away from technology in whatever way works for you. Get into nature. Go underwater. Go to a class. Garden.
Think about building your tech free life up rather than cutting your phone time down, this way you are not motivated by shame. What do you actually enjoy that also takes you away from tech? How can you invest a bit more of your time into that activity?
Consider human therapy
Human therapy provides a safe container and a trusted relationship to work through all the aspects of your AI anxiety, including the irrational and shameful parts. It also provides the opportunity to explore any deeper emotions like grief or anger beneath the AI anxiety. Perhaps most importantly, human therapy undoes aloneness and provides authentic emotional connection, which can serve as a powerful antidote to anxiety.
AI Anxiety Therapy at Expansive Therapy
If you’re experiencing AI anxiety, you’re not alone, and therapy can be a good place to start working through it and making it more manageable.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, Expansive Therapy has immediate openings for Anxiety Therapy in New York and California.
Reach out today for a free consult, or check out our homepage.
What researchers mean by AI anxiety
Studies usually break it into a few related concerns:
Job displacement anxiety: fear that AI will replace human work or reduce job security.
Loss-of-control anxiety: worry that AI systems will make decisions humans can’t fully understand or override.
Information overload / trust anxiety: uncertainty about whether AI-generated content is accurate or misleading.
Existential or societal anxiety: broader fears about AI’s long-term impact (surveillance, autonomy, inequality, or misuse).
Want more content like this?
Join our mailing list
Want more content like this?
Join our mailing list
Want more content like this?
Join our mailing list
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