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How to Handle AI-Related Anxiety
Marina Wyss
May 08, 2025
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This week I've been thinking a lot about how to handle anxiety about AI and our futures. Not only our careers, but the potential negative impact of AI on many aspects of society.
My video this week addresses whether and how AI will impact tech careers, and at work I've been preparing a presentation on using AI more effectively in data science workflows. While preparing the demos, I realized this could be a really scary presentation without context — I'm essentially showing how AI can already handle much of our coding work, and even some analysis tasks. I'm demonstrating how AI could potentially do their jobs.
In this week's YouTube video, I explain why I don't think AI is coming for our jobs anytime soon. But that doesn't eliminate legitimate anxiety about our futures — not just our careers but society at large, and ultimately even our lives.
I don't claim to know what the future holds. But here are some approaches that help me manage this anxiety:
Be mindful of the content you consume
Even if you think you're not affected by pessimistic perspectives, consuming content that focuses on negative outcomes isn't helpful. What you consume directly influences your mindset and behavior.
Here’s an example: I recently finished reading Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron, which explores the mindset of world-class athletes. That morning I was sitting in bed reading the final pages before starting my day, and the book’s message about grit, optimism, and consistency motivated me to get out of bed and get to the gym. I am recovering from Covid, and I could have given myself the excuse to skip the gym today. But because I spent the time reading about something motivational, my behavior was directly influenced in a positive direction.
Now imagine if I had started my day by doomscrolling instead. Would I have felt motivated or happy? Would I have gotten to the gym, or just loafed around since “what’s the point anyway?”
The argument that staying "informed" justifies consuming negative content often masks an addiction to drama. Negative media rarely contains information crucial to your daily life, yet it significantly impacts how you live.
If you're constantly reading about the futility of career advancement, will you work hard that day? Without effort, pessimistic predictions become self-fulfilling prophecies. You'll always have a voice suggesting there's no point, preventing you from reaching your potential.
Even if ignoring certain perspectives means missing some hypothetical truth, you'll achieve better outcomes by trying. You'll try if you believe success is possible. And you'll believe in possibilities if you nurture optimism rather than pessimism.
Remove negativity from your information diet. Focus on content that propels you forward.
The worst thing you can do is nothing
We simply don't know what will happen. No one does!
You can either live in fear of the unknown or embrace life proactively. The worst thing for your career is paralysis that prevents you from starting.
You're more likely to adapt successfully if you build a strong foundation, even if you need to pivot later. Developing the habit of continuous learning will serve you well regardless of how technology evolves.
This applies beyond just learning new technical skills. Strengthen your ability to communicate complex ideas clearly. Practice creative problem-solving that machines still struggle with. Build genuine relationships with colleagues and mentors who can help you navigate changes. These human skills often become more valuable, not less, as technology advances.
Remember that historically, technological revolutions have eliminated certain jobs but created entirely new categories of work. The key is positioning yourself at the intersection of human expertise and technological capability, rather than competing directly with automation.
Take small, consistent steps forward every day rather than waiting for perfect clarity about the future. Each skill you develop, connection you make, and project you complete builds resilience that will serve you regardless of how AI develops.
I want to know I gave my best effort, even if outcomes differ from my expectations. And I've found that action itself is often the best antidote to anxiety - it shifts your focus from what might happen to what you can actually control.
Enjoy your life now
This is something I emphasize in the video.
If AI is coming for us in one way or another, then I better have fun now!
We can spend our entire lives ruminating about hypothetical futures:
What if my career becomes obsolete?
What if I make the wrong investment?
What if I’m not preparing enough for [insert potential catastrophe]?
But while we’re lost in these hypotheticals, real life today — the only life we’re guaranteed — is passing us by.
Instead of excessive worry about potential bad things that can happen, I’m choosing to:
Take that trip I’ve been postponing
Deepen connections with the people I care about
Experience analog joys — like journaling with pen and paper or painting on canvas
And find meaning and satisfaction in my work and learning today
The future holds both challenges and possibilities beyond our imagination. But the present — this moment — is where life actually happens. Rather than letting uncertainty become paralysis, I’m using it as motivation to pursue meaningful experiences today. I want to live fully in the time I am given, regardless of what the future holds.
I received a somewhat indignant comment on the video about this suggestion that it is possible to enjoy life knowing that something negative is potentially around the corner. But I would argue, that has always been and always will be the case — AI or no.
Bad things can and do happen in life. You could have a terminal illness, be in an accident, lose your job, even lose a loved one. These things happen. In my opinion, one of our primary tasks as humans is to deal with this existential dread, ideally even finding a way to see the beauty and meaning in a life that can be full of suffering.
If this idea feels foreign to you, here are some books I’d recommend:
My Recent Content
Will AI Replace Us? The Truth About AI and Your Tech Career
And here’s the blog version.
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