The tidal wave of artificial intelligence (AI) barrelling toward many professions has generated deep anxiety among workers who are fearful that their jobs will be swept away - and the mental health impact is rising.

The launch in November 2022 of ChatGPT, the generative AI platform capable of handling complex tasks on command, marked a tech landmark as AI started to transform the workplace.

"Anything new and unknown is anxiety-producing," Clare Gustavsson, a New York therapist whose patients have shared concerns about AI, told AFP.

"The technology is growing so fast, it is hard to gain sure footing."

Legal assistants, programmers, accountants, and financial advisors are among those professions feeling threatened by generative AI that can quickly create human-like prose, computer code, articles, or expert insight.

Goldman Sachs analysts see generative AI impacting, if not eliminating, some 300 million jobs, according to a study published in March.

"I anticipate that my job will become obsolete within the next ten years," Eric, a bank teller, told AFP, declining to give his last name. "I plan to change careers. The bank I work for is expanding AI research."

New York therapist Meris Powell told AFP of an entertainment professional worried about AI being used in film and television production - a threat to actors and screenwriters that is a flashpoint in strikes currently gripping Hollywood.

"It's mainly people who are in creative fields who are at the forefront of that concern," Gustavsson said.

For one graphic animator in New York, the career-threatening shock came from seeing images generated by AI-infused software that rivaled the quality of those created by humans.

"People started to realize that some of the skills they had developed and specialized in could possibly be replaced by AI," she told AFP, adding she had honed her coding skills but now feels even that has scant promise in an AI world.

Peter Vukovic, who has been chief technology officer at several startups, expects just one percent or less of the population to benefit from AI.

"For the rest, it's a gray area," Vukovic, who lives in Bosnia, said. "There is a lot of reason for 99 percent of people to be concerned."

AI is focused on efficiency and making money, but it could be channeled to serve other purposes, Vukovic said. "What's the best way for us to use this?" he asked. "Is it really just to automate a bunch of jobs?"