AI is revolutionising work – taking seconds to complete tasks that once took hours. So why are we more exhausted than ever? Jess Stuart explains the phemenon of AI burnout and shares tips on how to avoid it.
Everywhere I look right now, we’re talking about AI, how we’re using it and what’s right or wrong with it. It’s in our workplaces, our phones, our creative processes and increasingly, our expectations of what a “productive” day should look like.
There’s no doubt it’s revolutionising how we work. Tasks that once took hours now take minutes. Ideas that required a whiteboard session and a team can now be generated on demand. We’re carrying around a brainstorming partner that never gets tired, never runs out of suggestions and, perhaps most seductively, never disagrees.
And yet, despite all of this, many of us are more tired than ever. Because while AI has accelerated our output, it hasn’t changed the fundamental limits of the human brain. And the human brain, which has been taught to fill space when it finds it, is now more in need of space than ever.
Mental fog, headaches, sluggish decision making
A major emerging theme in 2026 research is something now being labelled “AI brain fry” (a form of cognitive fatigue linked to AI-heavy workflows). Workers using multiple AI tools report mental fog, slower thinking, and decision fatigue. Emerging research also suggests that oversight of AI (checking, refining and validating outputs) is actually increasing our mental effort rather than reducing it.
A recent study published in Harvard Business Review by Julie Bedard and colleagues at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) describes something workers themselves have begun calling “AI brain fry.” Workers described mental fog, headaches, slower decision-making, and the strange sense that their thinking had become crowded. They defined it as mental fatigue that occured when interacting with AI exceeded cognitive capacity.
Anna, an administrator, tells me that with the aid of AI she gets through her daily to-do list much more swiftly and with less apparent effort. And yet, conversely, she feels more tired with as many unfinished tasks on her list as ever. This is the side effect and danger of our increased productivity. Here’s why.
We often measure productivity in terms of how much we get done. Maybe AI enables us to do the 20 tasks that used to take two days in just one day, therefore the temptation is to add more tasks – to tick off 40 in two days – and conclude that things have improved, that we’re more effective, but there’s another side to that equation.
If you’re now thinking about 40 things instead of 20, holding them, switching between them, processing them, then your mental load has doubled too. And that’s where the problem begins. Enter brain fry. Add to that the need to validate and check those 40 things and all of a sudden the increased productivity comes with brain fog, exhaustion and overload. All of which ironically make us less productive!
Anna says her tiredness often leads her to miss silly mistakes AI has made, or she second guesses herself when evaluating and checking its work.
While technology evolves at speed, our cognitive capacity does not. Our brains are not designed to process an ever-expanding volume of inputs, ideas and decisions without consequence. They overload and grow fagitued and this is where the problems start.
It's not failure, it's humanity
What many people are experiencing right now isn’t a failure to cope, it’s a very human response to an inhuman pace. We’re seeing a new kind of cognitive overload emerge. Not because work has become harder in the traditional sense, but because it has become denser. There is more to consider, more to respond to, more to refine, more to improve. AI doesn’t just help us do the work, it expands what feels possible, which in turn expands what we expect of ourselves.
The result? A subtle but significant increase in pressure. More ideas mean more decisions. More options mean more evaluation. Faster output means less natural pause. And without realising it, we’re filling every available gap in our day with more thinking and more doing.
It’s no wonder so many people feel mentally exhausted. What’s particularly interesting to me is that this was meant to be the solution. For years, conversations about productivity and burnout have centred on reducing workload, automating repetitive tasks and creating more space in the day. AI should make life easier so why are we finding it harder to ever to thrive at work?
Burnout hasn’t gone away, it’s just evolving and in many cases, it’s becoming less visible. It’s not always long hours or heavy workloads driving it, but the constant cognitive engagement. The feeling that your brain is always “on”, always processing, always one step behind the pace of what’s possible.
The answer isn’t to reject AI. It’s an extraordinary tool, and when used well, it can genuinely enhance how we work and live. But it does require a level of awareness that perhaps we haven’t fully caught up with yet.
The fundamentals of wellbeing at work haven’t changed. In fact, they’ve become more important.
How to use AI wisely, without burning out
1. Remember breaks are not a luxury; they are a necessity for cognitive recovery. Build in true breaks: Step away from all screens and inputs several times a day. Your brain needs downtime to process, not just a change of task.
2. Value quiet time, in which you don't appear to be doing any work at all. This time is not unproductive; it’s where integration and clarity happen. Schedule thinking space and device-free time in your day. Allow yourself space to think without prompting. Space to not respond immediately. Space to let ideas sit rather than instantly refining them.
3. Batch your AI use: Use AI in focused blocks rather than continuously throughout the day, to reduce constant context switching.
4. Watch for overload signals: Notice signs like brain fog, irritability or decision fatigue and treat them as cues to pause, not push through.
So by all means, use AI and let it support your productivity and creativity. But don’t outsource your human awareness. Pay attention to your cognitive load. Protect your capacity to think clearly, not just quickly. Because in a world where we can do more than ever before, the real skill might just be knowing when to do less.
With a background in HR, Jess Stuart is now a Waiheke-based career coach and the author of several books including: Burnout to Brilliance and I Love Mondays.
SHARE ME