Researchers say use of AI in the workplace causes ‘brainflies’

Excessive use and surveillance of artificial intelligence tools in the workplace can lead to an “AI brain fly,” according to researchers from Boston Consulting Group and the University of California.

Workers using AI tools report that the technology “enhances rather than simplifies their jobs,” researchers wrote in Friday’s Harvard Business Review.

A survey of nearly 1,500 full-time U.S. workers found that 14% said they experienced “mental fatigue resulting from excessive use, interaction, and/or monitoring of AI tools beyond their cognitive abilities,” or what researchers called “AI brainflies.”

Respondents said they felt a “mental hangover” with “fog” and “rattles”, an inability to think clearly, as well as headaches, slow decision-making and difficulty concentrating.

AI companies are promoting their products as productivity tools that allow employees to offload some or all of their workloads, and some companies are buying into this message and starting to measure the use of AI as a performance indicator.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said he set a goal late last year to fire engineers who didn’t want to use AI and have AI generate half of the platform’s code.

“As companies increasingly use multi-agent systems, employees will switch between more tools,” the researchers wrote. “Despite the promise of having more time to focus on meaningful work, juggling and multitasking may become the defining feature of working with AI.”

AI comes with ‘significant costs’ but can reduce burnout

The researchers said this mental strain caused by AI “results in significant costs in the form of increased employee errors, decision fatigue, and intention to quit.”

Survey respondents who said they had a brain fly experienced decision fatigue 33% more often than those who didn’t, which researchers said can cost large companies millions of dollars a year. Those with AI brainflies were also about 40% more likely to have active intentions to quit.

Additionally, those who reported AI brainflies self-reported making nearly 40% more critical errors than those who did not, with critical errors defined as those with “serious consequences that can impact safety, consequences, or important decisions.”

However, researchers have found that using AI to replace repetitive and routine tasks reduces burnout, a chronic workplace stress condition that leads to negative feelings about work and decreased efficiency.

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Respondents who used AI to reduce time spent on mundane, repetitive tasks reported 15% lower levels of burnout than respondents who did not use AI in this way.

The researchers said company leaders looking to reduce AI brainflies need to “clearly define the purpose of AI in their organizations” and explain how the tools will change their workloads.