11% of Dutch workers have sleepless nights over AI, worry about losing their jobs
11% of Dutch workers have sleepless nights over AI, worry about losing their jobs
More and more employers are using artificial intelligence. And while more Dutch workers are positive than negative about it, the technology is causing major concerns among a significant group, OpenUp found in a survey of 1,575 workers. 11 percent say they have sleepless nights because of the technology. An equally large group worries about AI replacing them. Both these concerns are greatest among young adults.
According to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), AI use in the workplace has doubled in the Netherlands in a year, rising from 40 percent in mid-2025 to 77 percent in May of this year. 22 percent of surveyed workers have negative feelings about this development, while 37 percent feel good about it.
Young adults, in particular, are worried about the technology, with 15 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds losing sleep about it, and 18 percent of knowledge workers in this age group worrying that AI will take their jobs.
27 percent of workers in the Netherlands expect AI to have a negative impact on the number of jobs across their organization as a whole. And 41 percent say their employer isn’t doing enough to support them during the AI transition.
The researchers also found that 20 percent of workers use AI for emotional support, discussing their thoughts and feelings with the chatbot. This figure is highest among women (27%) and people aged 25 to 35 (29%). Most of this group (25%) asks AI for practical advice and coping tips for things like trouble sleeping, parenting, or handling stress, or as a kind of diary to organize their thoughts (18%).
But there is also a significant group (12%) who use AI as a replacement psychiatrist or a friend (5%) when there is no one else to talk to.
According to Gijs Coppens, healthcare psychologist and founder of OpenUp, using AI in this way is not necessarily a bad thing. “Clients use AI to organise their thoughts, prepare for difficult conversations, or to see their own patterns laid out in front of them. AI works for those uses, and I certainly encourage it,” he said.
But there are definitely situations where a human needs to intervene. For example, with people with an anxiety disorder who seek a great deal of reassurance and confirmation from AI. In such a situation, the AI can end up feeding the complaint. “That is why, in such cases, the advice is to use AI not at all, only sparingly, or with the involvement of a professional.”
