As AI provides greater efficiency and productivity, it also increases workloads, burnout, and fatigue.

Being in a constant state of cognitive surveillance vetting and managing AI creates a profound focus deficit.

Liberating. Efficient. Productive. We were promised that artificial intelligence (AI) would be the ultimate liberator, a digital companion that would finally free us from the drudgery of the daily grind; however, the reality is far more taxing. Instead of offloading our work, AI has frequently replaced the traditional task with the invisible, high-stakes labor of vetting, fixing, and managing multiple algorithmic outputs.

Yes, AI helps solve problems and perform tasks, but as these technologies become an increasingly important feature of the workplace and everyday life, researchers are beginning to identify a dark side.

The Illusion and Mental Load of Less Work

The narrative of AI efficiency is colliding with a harsh reality. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 reports that new technologies like AI have increased employees’ workloads and heightened their burnout risk. We are not doing less; we are doing differently, and the new work is arguably more draining.

AI’s effect is not simply on the work we are doing and the outputs we are creating; it is also making a massive impression on our brain chemistry. The use of this........

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