Arbeitswelt und KI: Wandel im Berufsalltag: KI wird zum Kündigungsgrund

Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) is transforming the workplace, particularly in STEM professions - and leading to job changes for some workers. STEM refers to Mathematics, Information Technology, Natural Sciences and Engineering. About four in ten STEM workers in Germany (38.4 percent) report that colleagues have left their team for KI-related reasons in the past year.

This is based on a survey of 817 working MINT professionals in Germany this summer by the YouGov market research institute, commissioned by the British recruitment firm SThree. Changed job profiles and heavy workload The primary reason for these KI-driven departures, cited by 52.2 percent of those affected, is that their own work has been transformed "beyond recognition".

Nearly half (46.5 percent) complain about a lack of development prospects, while 36.9 percent say the workload is no longer manageable. This dynamic is especially pronounced in the Life Sciences sector (biomedical and medical fields), where 56.8 percent of respondents reported KI-driven team departures. In contrast, the figure is 28.9 percent in the IT industry and 29.6 percent in engineering.

Despite the departures, MINT specialists see the technology in a largely positive light. Two-thirds (66.8 percent) of KI users say their team's productivity is now higher than it was two years ago. Many people are investing the saved time in strategic thinking (38.0 percent), further education (29.0 percent) or taking on additional tasks (29.4 percent).

Emotionally, KI-related work is also perceived positively: terms like "stimulating" (38.0 percent), "curiosity" (37.0 percent) or "exciting" (32.7 percent) are significantly more commonly associated with KI than "pressure" (11.7 percent) or "fear" (9.3 percent). To retain employees amidst rapid changes, workers in open responses call for targeted training programs, clear rules for KI use and early involvement by management.