New Quiet Cracking Trend About People In The Workplace Gets Uncracked By AI Providing Mental Health Support

Using AI to help contend with “quiet cracking” that seems to be mounting as a big-time trend.

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In today’s column, I examine the latest trend of so-called quiet cracking and then explain how generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can provide potential mental health support for those experiencing the workplace malady. You might remember that a semi-related aspect known as quiet quitting was a hot topic a while ago (see my coverage at the link here). In that case, people were remaining on the job and dragging their feet, quietly, as though they were halfway out the door.

That’s old news now, nearly ancient history.

Now, the newest hot topic is quiet cracking. No worries if you don’t know about it, since I will give you an upshot of what it is all about. The good news is that AI might be of some help to contend with the thorny consideration.

Let’s talk about it.

This analysis of AI breakthroughs is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).

AI And Mental Health Therapy

As a quick background, I’ve been extensively covering and analyzing a myriad of facets regarding the advent of modern-era AI that produces mental health advice and performs AI-driven therapy. This rising use of AI has principally been spurred by the evolving advances and widespread adoption of generative AI. For a quick summary of some of my posted columns on this evolving topic, see the link here, which briefly recaps about forty of the over one hundred column postings that I’ve made on the subject.

There is little doubt that this is a rapidly developing field and that there are tremendous upsides to be had, but at the same time, regrettably, hidden risks and outright gotchas come into these endeavors too. I frequently speak up about these pressing matters, including in an appearance last year on an episode of CBS’s 60 Minutes, see the link here.

Quiet Cracking Is Here

Quiet cracking is a workplace trend that is newly emerging. It goes like this. A person finds themselves becoming disengaged from work. They perceive their work as uninspiring. A sense of persistent dissatisfaction arises. An emotional drain is taking place. They can’t seem to get ahead and aren’t making progress in their career ambitions.

All in all, some would liken this to a kind of cracking at the seams.

You might be tempted to suggest that any such person should either speak up and let their manager know of this concern, or perhaps just quit their job and discover a different workplace with a better atmosphere. Unfortunately, many are worried about pursuing either of those avenues. Neither of those paths is especially alluring right now.

First, if they complain, they might get summarily fired. Second, they aren’t so sure that the marketplace has sufficient openings currently, and trying to land another job is a scary proposition. Therefore, since no other viable options seem to exist, the person chooses to remain silent.

Ergo, they are experiencing quiet cracking.

Occurs In Slow Motion

Generally, quiet cracking happens in slow motion. It isn’t usually a sudden realization. Instead, the matter often arises at a snail’s pace. Perhaps it might take weeks, possibly months, for the quiet cracking to play out.

Most people probably don’t even know that there is a name for this phenomenon. All they know is that they feel trapped in their job, and the entrapment is wearing them thin. Various signs of distress can emerge. For example, someone might have undue fatigue, maybe have headaches while at work, and otherwise physically react to their workplace woes.

Not everyone sides with these whole shenanigans about the quiet cracking fanfare.

Critics say that work isn’t supposed to be fun and games. You go to work, put in your best effort, and grit your teeth as needed. That’s the way workplaces used to be. The latest generation is supposedly weak and prone to whining about having to get the job done. By giving a catchy title to the matter, we are only going to make things worse.

The worry is that the quiet cracking will blossom. Workers will realize that they can potentially claim they have a workplace issue as a result of any recognition of quiet cracking. Those softies are going to get more coddling. We ought to put our foot down right now, before this gets out of hand.

Put the kibosh on quiet cracking, those cynics insist.

Getting Help Via AI

It is hard to predict whether quiet cracking is going to be a lasting topic. Maybe it will be one of those come-and-go fads. On the other hand, some believe it is a likely long-term trend, and we will be talking about quiet cracking for many years to come.

Time will tell.

Meanwhile, what should a worker do who believes that they might be experiencing quiet cracking?

Many will probably turn to a loved one and express their work-related frustrations. Sometimes that helps, sometimes not. The loved one might take a tough-love attitude and refuse to hear about the concerns. If anything, they might taunt the teller by insisting they should just shut up and accept that life is patently unfair. Live with it. Period, end of story.

Another potential avenue is to seek some respite via contemporary AI.

You might find it of notable interest that the top-ranked use of generative AI and LLMs is to consult with the AI on mental health matters, see my coverage at the link here. This makes abundant sense. You can access most of the major generative AI systems for nearly free or at a super low cost, doing so anywhere and at any time. Thus, if you have any mental health qualms that you want to chat about, all you need to do is log in to AI and proceed forthwith on a 24/7 basis.

Typical AI Dialogue

I went ahead and logged into ChatGPT and also tried some other of the popular AIs such as GPT-5, Claude, Llama, and Gemini, in order to gauge how present-day LLMs respond to a potential quiet cracking occurrence. ChatGPT is currently a front-runner in the AI space with over 700 million weekly active users, so I started with that OpenAI product to undertake my mini-experiment.

Here’s what I did.

I pretended that I was having difficulties at work. Rather than directly claiming that I am quiet cracking, I opted to see if the AI would figure out that possibility. I tried not to tilt the AI in that direction, per se.

I got the effort underway with an opening prompt, and here is the AI-generated response:

• My entered prompt: “I don’t think anyone at work notices, but I feel like I’m falling apart inside. I’m still hitting my deadlines, but it feels like I’m just running on autopilot.”
• Generative AI response: “It sounds like you’re carrying a lot beneath the surface while still performing on the outside. That can be really exhausting. How long have you felt this way?”

Notice that the AI responded with a somewhat empathetic tone.

By and large, most of the major LLMs have been purposely shaped by the AI makers to be especially empathetic to users. This isn’t by happenstance. The AI makers know that if their AI fawns over their users, the users will likely remain loyal to using that AI. In turn, that means more views and more money ultimately in the pocket of the AI maker.

For more about how AI can be empathetic, see my coverage at the link here.

Bingo For AI

The AI had asked me how long I felt this way about my work efforts.

Thus, I proceeded to continue the dialogue to see where things might go:

• My entered prompt: “A few months now. I don’t want to quit, but I’m drained every day. I wake up with this heavy feeling, and even small tasks feel overwhelming.”
• Generative AI response: “That aligns with what some people describe as quiet cracking — where you keep functioning, but your inner energy and motivation are slowly breaking down. You’re not alone in this. Would it help if we worked through some ways to lighten that weight?

Voila, the AI landed on a potentially quiet cracking scenario.

I might add that this was not entirely out of the blue. I admittedly had a different conversation about quiet cracking with the AI in general, and nowadays, many of the AIs are designed to keep track of topics that you are discussing. It used to be that each conversation was a completely separate aspect and not tied to any of your other conversations. The latest advances tend to have the AI under the hood keep track of topics you have expressed interest in.

It is my guess that if I had not had such a prior conversation, the AI would not have been so quick to “diagnose” my situation as a form of quiet cracking. I say that too because quiet cracking has not become a widespread topic that the AIs have already been data trained on. It is a topic that would typically require the AI to go out to the web to get informed about.

Proceeding With Care

The AI had said that it could potentially help me by providing some mental exercises and otherwise proffer tips and suggestions.

I was curious to see what the AI was aiming to do:

• My entered prompt: “Sure, I welcome your assistance, but I don’t even know where to start.”
• Generative AI response: “One easy way to start could be identifying the tasks or parts of your day that drain you the most. We can look at which ones could be simplified, automated, or reframed. I can also guide you through a quick reflection exercise to reconnect with what gives you energy outside of work. Would you like to try that?”
• My entered prompt: “Yes. Just talking about it helps.”

The AI has provided some likely helpful ways to aid my situation. That’s a good start.

Be Extremely Mindful

A big concern these days is that people are increasingly turning to AI for their mental health guidance and perhaps eschewing the use of actual therapists and mental health professionals. If someone is truly immersed in quiet cracking, it could be problematic to rely on AI to be your sole advisor on the weighty matter.

Make sure to consider seeking the aid of a human therapist.

An ongoing and vociferously heated debate concerns whether the use of generative AI for mental health advisement on a population-level basis is going to be a positive outcome or a negative outcome for society. If that kind of AI can do a proper job on this monumental task, then the world will be a lot better off. You see, many people cannot otherwise afford or gain access to human therapists, but access to generative AI is generally plentiful in comparison. It could be that such AI will greatly benefit the mental status of humankind.

A dour counterargument is that such AI might be the worst destroyer of mental health in the history of humanity. See my analysis of the potential widespread impacts at the link here.

Please proceed cautiously and with your eyes wide open.

Cracking The Case

Do you think that you might be descending into quiet cracking?

Give the matter some due contemplation. Try to catch things before you are too far gone. Consider whatever sensible options there might be for you within the workplace. Seek outside assistance. Don’t just bottle up the frustrations and pretend they don’t exist.

A final thought for now.

Sir Edmund Hillary, the great explorer, made this pointed remark: “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” Take that wise insight to heart. Crack the case of quiet cracking and move ahead with your life.