aceRelying on AI at work reduces self-efficacy, ownership, and meaning while active collaboration mitigates the effects
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises major productivity gains, but it also raises fundamental questions about how technology can reshape people's relationship to their work. Historical debates over industrialization warned that technological change could undermine people's connection to work and sense of meaning. Similar concerns now surround AI, where the key issue may not be whether AI is used, but how it is used. Across a pre-registered experiment (N = 269) and a follow-up survey (N = 270), we examine how di…
Passive AI use initially boosted enjoyment and satisfaction, while active collaboration where workers drafted first then used AI to refine preserved psychological connection comparable to independent work.
Relying on passive AI copying at work reduced self-efficacy, psychological ownership, and work meaningfulness, with declines in efficacy and meaningfulness persisting after returning to manual work.
Experimental findings are based on occupation-specific writing tasks, with broader generalization relying on a complementary survey rather than direct observation of other work types.
Evidence
- Peer-reviewedScientific Reports2026-03-15
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Truvace Impact Record TRV-2026-0160, v1: “Relying on AI at work reduces self-efficacy, ownership, and meaning while active collaboration mitigates the effects.” Truvace, 2026-07-13. /record/TRV-2026-0160 (accessed at citation time). sha256 303f7d08fb6f875b…
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