Employees of AI companies complain of stress due to psychological pressure

Employees of the largest AI laboratories, including the British AI Safety Institute (AISI), OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind, are increasingly suffering from stress and burnout, according to the Financial Times (FT). The reason, they say, is concern that the systems they create could cause serious harm to society.

According to sources, several employees of AISI, a world leader in independent testing of advanced AI models, were sent on sick leave due to stress. A busy testing schedule for yet-to-be-released AI models and concerns about the rapid adoption and growing capabilities of these new technologies have led to lower morale and burnout for the institute’s staff.

As the newspaper notes, many researchers resign, citing moral fatigue, psychological stress and doubts about the safety of their work. Employees at companies like Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind have already complained publicly about similar problems and warned that companies are "playing" with the future of humanity. CEOs, in turn, began to call for a slowdown in development.

The FT quotes a former AISI employee as saying: "Believing you're working on the world's most important problem can lead to a very stressful and sometimes toxic corporate culture and management.".

Ekaterina Naumova