Clinicians Report AI-Related Uncertainty Is Emerging as a New Source of Anxiety Among Working Professionals

New York, New York - September 08, 2026 -

Therapy24x7 clinicians working with professionals across New York City report that artificial intelligence is emerging as a new source of anxiety-related concerns in finance, law, consulting, healthcare, technology and media

The professionals Therapy24x7 clinicians describe rarely look anxious. By most external measures, they are thriving. They run teams, close deals, make partner, ship products and rarely miss a deadline. But clinicians at Therapy24x7 report hearing a newer layer in the anxiety some New York City professionals bring into therapy: uncertainty about what artificial intelligence means for their value, pace, relevance and future at work.

High-functioning anxiety is not a formal diagnosis. Clinicians use the descriptive term for people whose anxiety can coexist with, and sometimes help drive, continued achievement. Therapy24x7's current observation is narrower: among some working professionals, AI is becoming part of the pressure system that keeps that anxiety active.

Recent research provides unusually timely context. The American Psychological Association's 2026 analysis describes U.S. workers as facing an age of uncertainty shaped in part by the AI revolution. Stanford's 2026 AI Index reports that 64 percent of Americans expect AI to lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years, while only 5 percent expect more. Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of U.S. workers were worried about the future impact of AI in the workplace, 33 percent felt overwhelmed and 32 percent expected AI to reduce their own job opportunities over the long term. These findings do not measure high-functioning anxiety or NYC professionals specifically. They establish a broader U.S. context of AI-related uncertainty against which Therapy24x7's clinical observations are being made.

What clinicians at Therapy24x7 describe is not a new existence of anxiety among New York City professionals, but a new source to which that anxiety can attach. Clinicians report hearing concerns about pressure to learn AI fast enough, fear that colleagues using it will outperform them, uncertainty about whether years of expertise will retain the same value, and a sense that productivity expectations will keep rising because AI is supposed to make everything faster. The anxiety is often less about a single feared layoff than about the disappearance of a stable definition of what it means to be good enough at work.

Clinicians report hearing several recurring AI-related concerns: pressure to master new tools quickly, fear that colleagues using AI will outperform them, and uncertainty about whether years of expertise will retain the same value. Senior professionals may fear their expertise is becoming easier to replicate; younger professionals may worry that entry-level work through which expertise was once developed is disappearing.

"The question used to be, am I good enough at my job?" said Efrat Gotlib, LCSW, founder and clinical director of Therapy24x7. "Now, for some professionals, the question is whether the definition of good enough will change faster than they can adapt. AI has added a new kind of uncertainty because there is no clear finish line for keeping up."

To protect patient privacy, Therapy24x7 presents these patterns as de-identified, composite clinical observations. They reflect themes noticed in routine clinical work, not findings from a formal study or population-level analysis, and every patient's experience is individual.

Therapy24x7 approaches this work through weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy with the same clinician over time. Rather than treating AI-related worry as a stand-alone diagnosis, clinicians examine how new workplace uncertainty interacts with longer-standing patterns such as perfectionism, fear of falling behind, self-worth tied to performance, and difficulty resting. The practice does not claim that AI causes anxiety; it reports that AI-related uncertainty has become one subject around which existing anxiety can organize.

"Therapy for this population is not about lowering the bar," Gotlib said. "It is about understanding why the bar feels like it is attached to your sense of survival. When someone begins to see that pattern clearly, anxiety no longer has to remain the only engine available to them."

###

For more information about Therapy24x7, contact the company here:

Therapy24x7
Efrat Gotlib
917-780-2171
info@therapy24x7.com
141 East 35th Street
New York
NY
10016