Artificial intelligence was supposed to make work easier, but for many procurement teams, it’s adding an extra layer of pressure, according to new research.
A study by people2people Recruitment suggests the workplace AI boom is carrying a high human cost, with three in five Australians saying AI has made their jobs more stressful.
More than half are concerned AI could eventually replace jobs, while almost a third (32 percent) feel overwhelmed by the pressure to learn new AI tools and skills.
“Everyone talks about the productivity benefits of AI, but we’re now starting to see the human impact emerge,” says Suhini Wijayasinghe, Head of HR Solutions at people2people Recruitment.
“Employees are being asked to learn new tools, adapt to changing processes and understand rapidly evolving technology while still delivering on their day-to-day responsibilities. For many workers, that constant pressure is becoming overwhelming.”
For procurement, the findings land at a time when the function is being pushed to digitise faster, manage more risk and deliver greater value from increasingly complex technology investments.
Deloitte’s 2025 Global CPO Survey found that procurement leaders were heavily focused on digital procurement and AI. It also identified talent development and risk management as top priorities as procurement navigates “increasing internal and external complexity”.
The people2people data explains why the human side of that transformation is becoming harder to ignore.
The biggest source of AI-related stress was not fear of redundancy, as expected, but the sheer effort required to keep up.
Nearly one-third of workers (31 percent) said they worry about making mistakes when using AI and almost a quarter (24 percent) said they are struggling to keep pace with the volume of AI information, updates and developments.
“We’re seeing what many employees would describe as AI overload. Workers aren’t necessarily resisting the technology; they’re exhausted by the pace of change. Many feel like they’re expected to become AI experts overnight, and that’s creating significant anxiety,” said Wijayasinghe.
In procurement, in particular, the gap between experimentation and scaled adoption remains wide.
In May, Gartner reported that just 36 percent of CPOs are very confident in their ability to redesign roles and processes around AI, warning that productivity gains are often being realised at the individual level rather than across the wider procurement function.
Meanwhile, ProcureAbility’s 2026 Annual ProcureCon CPO Report paints a similar picture.
While all surveyed procurement leaders reported some level of AI use, only 11 percent said they were “fully ready” to leverage it with measurable impact.
The biggest barriers recorded were data privacy and compliance concerns, poor data quality and integration, and worries about AI replacing human judgement.
Those concerns line up closely with what workers say they fear most in the people2people survey.
More than a third (36 percent) identified misinformation and inaccurate AI-generated content as the biggest workplace risk associated with AI, ahead of job anxiety and the potential loss of creativity and critical thinking.
In procurement, where decisions can affect supplier relationships, contracts, compliance obligations and millions of dollars in spend, that risk is amplified, and may also explain why AI governance is shooting up the procurement agenda.
ProcureAbility’s latest procurement benchmarking suggests adoption is widespread, but maturity remains low, with only a small number of leaders saying they are fully ready to leverage AI with measurable impact.
As Wijayasinghe puts it, “Businesses have invested heavily in AI tools, but they now need to invest equally in helping employees use them effectively.”
“The organisations that succeed will be the ones that build confidence rather than fear and provide employees with the skills and support they need to navigate this change.”
Check out the latest Gordon’s Window for more data on AI in procurement.
