Psychology (1 blogmarks)

In a recent HBR article AI Reduce Work – It Intensifies It, results of a study were shared that found that adoption of AI for work tasks gives way to both productivity gains and an intensification of the work to be done. That intensification leads to overwhelm and overwork characterized as "cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making."

In this more recent article from HBR, we see the results of another study that shows that certain patterns of AI use at work can lead to what they term AI Brain Fry.

AI promises to act as an amplifier that will drive efficiency and make work easier, but workers that are using these AI tools report that they are intensifying rather than simplifying work.

The authors differentiate it from burnout:

We call it “AI brain fry,” which we define as mental fatigue from excessive use or oversight of AI tools beyond one’s cognitive capacity. Participants described a “buzzing” feeling or a mental fog with difficulty focusing, slower decision-making, and headaches. This AI-associated mental strain carries significant costs in the form of increased employee errors, decision fatigue, and intention to quit.

In particular, they found that oversight as an AI engagement activity was the most mentally taxing. And second to that is the degree to which the use of AI tools has led to internal or external pressure to get more done in the same amount of time.

These two factors together—AI oversight and an increase in workload—increase an employee’s sphere of accountability, requiring them to pay attention to more outcomes for more tools in the same amount of time. It makes sense that cognitive load increased, and with it, their mental exhaustion.

There is a lot more in this article, including the idea that use of three simultaneous AI tools is the magic number and when you go to four, the productivity scores dip.

I heard about this article from the latest episode of the Hard Fork podcast – A.I. Goes to War + Is ‘A.I. Brain Fry’ Real? + How Grammarly Stole Casey’s Identity