---
id: "claim-identity-uncertainty"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["§ Should You Treat AI Like a Teammate?", "¶ 6"]
tags: ["psychological-impact", "job-security"]
related: ["concept-identity-confusion", "quote-ai-org-chart"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
speakers: ["Boston Consulting Group", "Boston University"]
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-104-treat-ai-like-teammate"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/should-you-treat-ai-like-a-teammate"
sourceTitle: "Should You Treat AI Like a Teammate?"
---
# AI Anthropomorphization Increases Identity Uncertainty and Job Insecurity

## Claim
Framing AI as a teammate or employee makes managers **13% more likely** to report uncertainty about their professional identity, increases concern about **job security by 7%**, and **lowers trust in AI by 10%**.

## Confidence: high · Testable: yes
Supports [[concept-identity-confusion]] and is dramatized by [[quote-ai-org-chart]].

## Verification status (from enrichment)
Mixed but strong. The **7% job-insecurity** and **10% trust-drop** figures are directly corroborated by Fortune's reporting on the same experiment. The **13% identity-uncertainty** figure is consistent with HBR/BCG descriptions of 'eroded professional identity' but is only partially externally verifiable in public fragments — treat it as highly plausible and drawn from the original paper.