In the final paragraph of their article, Gagné and colleagues write, “it is not algorithms that shape workers’ motivation, but how organizations design and use them” (Gagné, M. et al. Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory. Nat. Rev. Psychol. 1, 378–392 (2022))1. However, this assertion is too general and warrants nuance because algorithms by their very nature might thwart workers’ autonomy and subsequently their intrinsic motivation under certain circumstances.