Over the past few weeks, a new phrase has started appearing in workplace research:
AI Brain Fry.
Workers describe it as mental fog. Cognitive overload. Decision fatigue. A constant sense of "buzzing" in the background of their minds.
Research shared by Boston Consulting Group found that employees who spend large amounts of time supervising AI systems, checking outputs, switching between tools, and verifying information are reporting higher levels of mental exhaustion, information overload and intention to quit.
Many people see this as evidence that AI is the problem.
We see something different.
AI Brain Fry is not a technology problem.
It's a work design problem.
The Great AI Mistake
For decades, technology promised to make work easier.
Email was supposed to save time.
Slack was supposed to improve communication.
Project management software was supposed to create alignment.
Instead, many organisations simply layered new tools on top of old ways of working.
The result?
More notifications.
More meetings.
More information.
More complexity.
Now we're making the same mistake with AI.
Many organisations are introducing AI into workflows without redesigning the work itself.
The employee still owns all the same responsibilities.
They still attend all the same meetings.
They still manage all the same stakeholders.
But now they also need to:
- Prompt AI
- Check AI
- Verify AI
- Correct AI
- Manage multiple AI systems
- Learn constantly changing tools
We've taken a worker who was already operating near capacity and added another layer of cognitive demand.
No wonder people feel exhausted.
Productivity Is Not The Goal
One of the most dangerous assumptions in business today is that AI adoption equals productivity.
It doesn't.
If AI helps someone complete a task in half the time, but doubles the number of decisions they need to make, have we actually improved the work?
If a marketer can generate ten campaigns instead of one, but now has to evaluate ten times more content, have we created leverage or overload?
If an executive can process more information than ever before, but loses the mental space required for judgement, reflection and creativity, have we actually improved performance?
The future of work is not about maximising output.
It's about optimising human capacity.
Those are very different goals.
The Most Human Organisations Will Win
At Mostly Human, we believe many organisations are asking the wrong question.
The question is not:
"How do we get our people using more AI?"
The question is:
"How do we redesign work so humans can do more of what humans do best?"
Because the highest-value human skills are not disappearing.
They are becoming more valuable.
Judgement.
Creativity.
Connection.
Empathy.
Leadership.
Storytelling.
Trust.
Meaning-making.
These are not bugs in the system.
They are the system.
As artificial intelligence becomes abundant, these deeply human capabilities become the scarcest and most valuable resource in every organisation.
A Better Future Is Possible
The narrative around AI often swings between two extremes.
Either AI will save us.
Or AI will replace us.
Neither story is particularly useful.
The more interesting possibility is that AI could help us become more human.
Imagine organisations where repetitive work is automated.
Where administration shrinks.
Where employees spend less time producing information and more time making sense of it.
Where managers spend less time reporting and more time coaching.
Where teams spend less time coordinating and more time creating.
Where technology creates more space for human connection rather than less.
That future is possible.
But it won't happen automatically.
It requires intentional design.
It requires leadership.
It requires organisations willing to rethink work itself.
The Real Challenge
AI Brain Fry may be one of the first warning signs of the next era of work.
Not because AI is harmful.
But because it reveals an uncomfortable truth:
Technology alone does not create better work.
Better work must be designed.
The organisations that thrive in the next decade won't be those that deploy the most AI.
They'll be the ones that use AI to create more meaningful, sustainable and deeply human work.
Because in the age of artificial intelligence, becoming more human isn't a nice idea.
It's a competitive advantage.
And perhaps the most important one of all.
The more artificial intelligence advances, the more intentionally human we must become.