Mental Health in Age of Algorithms

We are living through one of the most paradoxical moments in human history. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made our workplaces smarter, faster, and more efficient than ever before — yet our minds, ironically, are growing more fatigued, fragmented, and fragile.

- DR SANKU BOSE

AI is being hailed as the next industrial revolution — a transformative force capable of transforming how we live and learn. But an uncomfortable question lingers: Can AI heal the very minds it is beginning to dominate? Can a machine that understands our data also understand our despair?

Automation was once celebrated as the great liberator — freeing humans from monotonous, repetitive work. Today, it often feels like a new form of captivity. We move seamlessly from screen to screen, from Zoom to spreadsheet to smartphone, trapped in a loop of endless notifications. Work no longer ends; it merely changes devices. The lines between professional and personal life have long blurred into a haze of constant connectivity.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 15% of working-age adults globally live with a mental disorder. “Burnout” has become an officially recognized occupational phenomenon. In India, one in seven young people between 15 and 24 years of age experience depression or anxiety as per a UNICEF report — the very generation entrusted with building the AI future.

The modern workplace has evolved into a paradox of progress — hyper-connected, data-driven, and efficient, yet emotionally depleted. In our obsession with measuring performance, we have forgotten that human beings are not machines. Productivity metrics can track output, but not purpose. Algorithms can predict engagement—but not joy. When “optimization” becomes the primary goal, mental health often becomes collateral damage.