But, AI is not a respecter of persons because it is a machine after all. This is reminiscent of the legend of John Henry (around 1900), the steel-driving man who tried to beat the steam drill concluded, "Before that steam drill shall beat me down, I'll die with my hammer in my hand."

When Amber Smith, 28, had trouble submitting an IT support ticket, she quickly realized that her second layoff in one year had arrived.

Before that, she was already jumpy. She'd be unnerved by everyday workplace tasks, like when her manager asked to hop on the phone on short notice, or a companywide meeting suddenly appeared on her calendar.

It's a sign of the times as workplace power swings away from workers, and layoffs dominate headlines. While layoffs are still low relative to historic levels, they loom large in workers' minds.

A miasma of new stresses is also permeating white-collar offices: the threat of AI taking jobs, stricter return-to-office pushes, and a new hardcore culture that's eroding work-life balance. There's also the hollowing out of middle managers, and the Great Flattening has left some with fear that they'll be next.

"Workers are feeling disempowered," Michele Williams, a professor of management and entrepreneurship at the University of Iowa, said, adding that this trend reared its head during the 2008 recession and is now back again.

"If the boss walks by and doesn't say 'hi,' are they planning to fire me, as opposed to the boss was just busy that day and just didn't notice you?" Williams said. "They're looking for these social cues and overinterpreting social cues because of that insecurity."

It's what experts call "paranoid attribution," where employees read negative meaning into regular workplace occurrences. Do worse snacks mean the company is struggling financially? Is a warmer office a sign that management is cutting costs on air conditioning? Are more interns a good sign or a bad sign for the hiring budget?