A Harvard Business Review study found that “AI intelligence” leaves workers mentally exhausted

Overused workers Artificial intelligence agents and tools At work they are more at risk of mental fatigue, according to A Recent Harvard Business Review study. In some industries, more than 25% of designated professionals reported increased mental stress due to their role supervising AI – although these professionals also generally experienced less burnout than their non-AI peers.

This phenomenon — which researchers refer to as “AI fry” — is described as a “buzzing” feeling or mental fog that caused study participants to experience headaches and difficulty concentrating and making decisions. Individuals cited being overwhelmed by large amounts of information and frequent task switching as reasons for these feelings.

The individuals studied experienced more mental fluctuations when they used AI agents to manage their workload beyond their cognitive abilities. When participants used AI to replace mundane, repetitive tasks, managing the increasing number of tools increased mental fatigue.

More importantly, the study found that fewer individuals who used these AI agents reported workplace burnout.

The researchers speculate that this is because the burnout test assesses emotional and physical distress. In contrast, they report that acute mental fatigue “results in regulation of attention, working memory, and executive control beyond the limited capacity of these systems.”

These are the processes that are taxed when study participants use multiple AI tools in their workflow, According to researchers.

The Harvard study identifies several business costs incurred by workers experiencing AI fluctuations. The first consequence is that these individuals may end up making less good decisions. “Workers in the study who endorsed AI experienced 33% more decision fatigue than those who did not,” the study notes. Workers who reported AI fluctuations were more likely to report making both minor and major errors on their jobs.

Another recent study was conducted by Harvard Business Review It similarly found that employees using AI tools “worked at a faster pace, took on a wider range of tasks and extended work into more hours of the day,” but warned that “increasing workload can in turn lead to cognitive fatigue, burnout, and poor decision-making.”