Since the launch of the first version of ChatGPT by OpenAI, the artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm. It permeates many aspects of our lives and has firmly established itself in the corporate environment.

Companies are betting big on AI, spending millions of dollars, in the hopes of increased productivity. Some are even laying off employees, expecting the remaining ones to adopt AI to be more productive and take on the work of the people asked to leave.

Some people are worried about the lives of those who were fired. Some are worried about humanity’s future. But very few seem to focus on those adopting AI technology as part of their work. Yet, there is a danger lurking below the surface of AI-enhanced productivity.

The Paradox of Productivity

Tools powered by artificial intelligence make us more productive by providing us with more data at breakneck speed. So far so good. The problem is that we, humans, are then expected to verify that data, think critically about what we are getting from AI agents, and that means thinking more quickly and making a huge number of decisions in a short period of time. We are more productive, but we are also more exhausted.

This phenomenon already has a name: AI brain fry. It is a type of cognitive fatigue specific to collaboration between humans and machines. It is similar to burnout, yet different enough. It is not caused by emotional distress but rather by cognitive overload.

Some initial research already shows the dark side of using AI-generated content. Research from BetterUp Labs and Stanford found that 41% of workers have encountered AI-generated slop that needed to be checked and reworked, resulting in productivity slowdowns and trust and collaboration issues.

State of AI in Business 2025 report states it clearly: “Despite $30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI… 95% of organizations are getting zero return.” Things are going to get better. I’m sure. I’m into technology, and I believe that once the gold rush subsides and we find the right place for AI, things will get better, and we’ll get more productivity out of it.

What worries me more is the human costs of getting there. Research suggests that 14% of AI users already experience symptoms of AI brain fry, including headaches, difficulty focusing, and slowed decision-making.

What Is “AI Brain Fry”?

AI brain fry is mental fatigue caused by excessive interaction with AI systems beyond human cognitive capacity. Our brains didn’t evolve to handle the amount of information and the speed at which AI serves it to us. Brain fry is basically a system overload.

To understand AI brain fry, we must turn to cognitive load theory, which explains how the human brain processes information. The brain has a limited working memory capacity. When this capacity is exceeded, performance deteriorates. In fact, we first noticed the issues with cognitive load during the Covid-19 pandemic, when we switched to video calls. So-called Zoom fatigue was the first glimpse of what was to come.

Why does AI increases cognitive load rather than reducing it and helping us think less?

Oversight needs: AI is great, but not great enough. We don’t trust the AI-generated content. Often for good reasons. The more critical the job the more important the human review. We must go through the heaps of AI-generated content, evaluate and verify sources, and refine the results. This is cognitively demanding. The effort that would have been spread across hours of work is now squeezed into a shorter timeframe, making it more brain-intensive.

Those experiencing AI brain fry reported 33% more decision fatigue and made 39% more major errors on average. They were also 39% more likely to think about leaving their jobs.

Decision fatigue: AI can generate many options for us to choose from. We need to use critical thinking all the time and decide what to trust and what to verify. This means many more small decisions throughout our days. And that means higher decision fatigue. In fact, research suggests that, amongst heavy AI users, decision fatigue increases by 33%.

Fragmented thinking: The constant context switching between AI-generated content and our own thoughts and ideas disrupts our cognitive flow. It becomes more difficult for us to focus on our train of thought. We like to think in sequence, and the brain needs a level of continuity to grasp ideas and keep working on them. Short-circuiting it with AI input makes it difficult for us to follow the whole ideation process.

Information overload: Our good old friend, information overload, is another problem. It is nothing new to AI. We have been living with this problem for years now, as we are constantly bombarded with tons of information and required to sort the signal from the noise. AI makes it just so much worse. The information we receive increases, and we have less time to process it. Our brains just can’t evaluate, prioritize, and integrate the data we are receiving fast enough.

Illusion of infinite possibility: AI creates the illusion that every problem has countless solutions. But human cognition thrives on constraints. Without limits, our minds become paralyzed. This is the same problem we have had to deal with over the last century. The more options we have, the more difficult it is for us to decide. The paradox of choice, as described by Barry Schwartz, is a real issue that AI is amplifying.

Redefining intelligence: While in the past we were asked to know things and to be creative in the world of AI, this requirement on our brains is changing. We don’t need to know things anymore; rather, we need to evaluate them using critical thinking. We don’t need to be creative anymore; we just need to keep selecting from a number of AI-generated options. We are asked not only to work differently but to think differently.

In short, AI does not scale infinitely with human cognition. It introduces diminishing returns as we use it more and eventually negative returns. AI brain fry is best understood as a “mental hangover” rather than chronic exhaustion. It seems that the cure is simple: get some rest.

Managing AI Brain Fry

So what can we do to prevent AI brain fry? The solution is not to ignore AI, but to use it more intelligently.

Pick a tool: Many people boast of using a myriad of tools and AI models for their work. Don’t. Focus on a smaller number of tools and learn to use them effectively.

Automate the right things: Don’t try to use AI for everything. Use it for what it is good at and where you can fully rely on it. Automate tasks that require only a low level of verification. This means situations where the probability of a mistake is small and the negative consequences of such a mistake are negligible.

Take breaks: The more you use AI, the more cognitive breaks you should take. Don’t get sucked into uninterrupted work thinking that you are super productive. You are not. You are just more prone to making mistakes.

Build your AI skills: The more you can limit interaction with AI, the better. You can achieve this by improving your prompt efficiency, limiting some of the back-and-forth between you and the machine.

Redesign workflows: When re-thinking the way you work, don’t focus only on what the AI is capable of, but also on what human cognitive limits are and what the machine will expect from you. It must be sustainable.

Putting It All Together: The Productivity Illusion

AI is often framed as a productivity multiplier. And it certainly can be. However, the relationship between AI and productivity is nonlinear and often difficult to achieve.

AI brain fry is the first warning. Using AI without careful reflection of how we use it, what it brings, and what we are sacrificing, is dangerous. Intelligence is not just about output, speed, or optimization. It is also about clarity, coherence, and human limits.

In our pursuit of artificial intelligence, we must understand the limits of human intelligence and realize that more is not better.

The future belongs not to those who use AI correctly. Those who use it wisely, sparingly, and humanely.

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Photo: Generated with Dall-E