AI is exhausting workers so much, researchers have dubbed the condition ‘AI brain fry’
AI is exhausting workers so much, researchers have dubbed the condition ‘AI brain fry’
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/13/business/ai-brain-fry-nightcap
Publish Date: 2026-03-13 07:00:00
Source Domain: www.cnn.com
A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
New York
—
Part of the pitch for artificial intelligence in the workplace goes like this: It’s like having a team of people to delegate your grunt work to, freeing you up to think strategically and maybe, just maybe, take a long lunch or head home early. Or maybe even be more productive, to make more money. It’s a nice idea!
But as everyone who’s either had a boss or been a boss knows, managing is a job in itself, one that comes with its own distinct brand of stress and annoyance. And that doesn’t change if the “people” in question aren’t people at all.
For participants in a recent study by Boston Consulting Group, the experience of overseeing multiple AI “agents,” autonomous software that’s designed to execute tasks, rather than just churn out information like a chatbot, caused an acute sensation of “buzzing” — a fog that left workers exhausted and struggling to concentrate. The study’s authors call it “AI brain fry,” defined as mental fatigue “from excessive use or oversight of AI tools beyond one’s cognitive capacity.”
“Contrary to the promise of having more time to focus on meaningful work, juggling and multitasking can become the definitive features of working with AI,” they wrote in the study. published by Harvard Business Review last week. “This AI-associated mental strain carries significant costs in the form of increased employee errors, decision fatigue, and intention to quit.”
Workers quoted in the study reminded me a lot of my fellow elder Millennials circa 1997, rushing home to tend to their Tamagotchis.
“It was like I had a dozen browser tabs open in my head, all fighting for attention,” one…
