Why AI’s biggest workplace challenge is psychological, not technical

That certainty, she said, has gone. “We still have to, as leaders and as HR leaders as well, continue to make good decisions, responsible decisions, but at the same time, with everything happening so fast, it just becomes harder to maintain good judgement – we’re seeing some ethical drift,” she said, describing professionals who see themselves as ethical but are, without realising it, “relying a bit more than we think on technology.”

Resilience has become leadership infrastructure

For Pelletier, the response isn’t a wellness add-on – it’s structural. “Resilience has moved up from being a nice wellness concept over on the side to being very central – to being actually leadership infrastructure,” she said.

That reframing matters for HR leaders building a case for protecting human connection and judgement as AI absorbs more decision-making load. It also echoes a broader shift already visible in HR data – recent workplace research on overload and organisational design has found that employee confidence that leaders treat wellbeing as a genuine priority has fallen steadily over the past five years, even as organisations expand wellbeing programs.

AI is quietly reshaping identity at work

A recurring theme in Pelletier’s practice is identity. “What we do in our work is in part defining our identity,” she said. “It’s where we create meaning, where we create relationships, a sense of purpose, a sense of community.”

As AI replaces, augments or creates different tasks, she said, it inevitably reshapes that identity – for better or worse. “AI coming in and modifying what we can do is impacting our identity, which means it might bring us closer to what we could call our ideal work self – or it could be moving us away from it.”