One in five agency workers say AI is increasing workloads and fuelling burnout

One in five (20%) UK agency workers believe artificial intelligence (AI) is adding to their workload rather than reducing it, according to Resource Guru’s Agency Overworking Report 2025.

The report warned that hidden AI-related tasks are driving unsustainable pressure and rising burnout across the industry.

Resource Guru’s research showed that AI has created new layers of work, as teams are spending more time building briefs and templates to coax usable assets from AI tools, fixing outputs riddled with errors, and managing compliance and client expectations.

Simon Tokic, co-founder and managing director at agency Mind Methods, said: “We’d hit every milestone on a brand project where copywriting wasn’t in scope. As a goodwill extra, we ran our research and messaging logic through an LLM to illustrate tone and structure.

“The client fixated on whether the words were ‘AI-generated’, then questioned the value of the entire engagement.

“Despite 80+ additional unbilled, out-of-scope hours and meticulous documentation, they disputed fees. It wasn’t the tech that failed; it was perception, expectation and boundaries.”

Sean Begg Flint, founder and director of agency Position Digital, added: “We’ve had clients ask outright whether AI should cut delivery times in half, or whether fees should shrink because an algorithm is involved.

“Those conversations show how far expectations have drifted from reality. If agencies keep absorbing that pressure, it’s not just teams that suffer, client relationships and business models start to break down too.”