AI increases work-related stress for some cybersecurity pros: report

Depending on how they use it, AI may alleviate cybersecurity professionals’ workplace stress—or make it worse.

According to a July ISC2 study, 48% of cybersecurity pros said AI lowered their stress at work, while just under one-third (32%) said the technology either slightly or significantly heightened that stress.

The findings were based on a May survey of 856 cybersecurity professionals who use AI in their roles.

Caring too much. There were clear distinctions between the two groups of respondents. Those with increased anxiety from AI, for example, were more likely to spend additional time reviewing and validating AI outputs, and deciding when to trust an AI recommendation.

“That’s a stressor because it’s not something we potentially had to do, and hence a little bit tricky,” ISC2 CISO Jon France told IT Brew. “In the general market, there is some guidance, but there’s not a track record of, ‘How do you do that?’ and, ‘What does good output look like?’ compared to poor output?’.”

In addition, stressed-out cybersecurity pros generally spent more time performing hands-on security tasks and overseeing security systems than their more relaxed counterparts, according to ISC2.

Meanwhile, those who claimed AI took away some of their stress weren’t as expected to “act on” AI-generated outputs without fully understanding how they were produced.

“They’re not incongruent results,” France said. “I think it’s the tasking element and what we’re doing with AI. [There’s] a reduction where it’s helping me do my job and an increase in stress where I’m having to validate.”

Stress reliever. Organizations looking to alleviate workplace stress from AI should set clear governance expectations and policies, according to France. Eighty percent of respondents said clear expectations, policies, and governance frameworks around AI workflows are very important for effective use.

“That helps practitioners and it helps the general organization to adopt AI in a way that is aligned with overall organizational goals,” France said, adding that practitioners should understand the limitations of AI.

“It’s not the silver bullet. It can’t solve all the things that you pose to it,” France said. “Use AI at what it’s incredibly good at and recognize the things that it’s not so great at, and don’t try and use it for [the latter].”