A new study shows that using artificial intelligence (AI) too much in work can cause a new form of mental fatigue, called "AI fatigue syndrome", making it difficult for workers to concentrate and more likely to make mistakes.
The study, conducted by scientists from Boston Consulting Group and University of California, Riverside (UCR), surveyed 1,488 full-time employees in the US in various fields.
The results showed that more than 14% of participants said they had experienced a condition called "AI-induced cognitive decline".
People with this condition often describe feelings of ambiguity, difficulty concentrating, slower decision-making, and even headaches after working for a long time with AI tools.
According to research, in the group of AI-using employees, people with "cognitive impairment due to AI" have a 11% higher risk of minor errors and up to 39% higher risk of serious errors than those who do not experience this condition.
Not only affecting work performance, mental fatigue also affects career decisions.
About 34% of workers who have experienced "AI fatigue" said they intend to voluntarily quit their jobs, while this rate in the remaining group is 25%.
The level of impact also varies between industries. Only about 6% of legal experts said they encounter this situation, while the rate in the marketing sector is up to 26%.
Departments such as human resources, operations, engineering, finance and information technology also recorded quite high rates.
Researchers believe that one of the main reasons is that employees must continuously monitor AI systems.
According to surveys, the use of AI in work forces workers to spend an additional 14% of their mental effort to monitor and check results. This increases the level of mental fatigue by 12% and information overload by 19%.
In addition, using too many AI tools at the same time can also backfire. Research shows that employees who use more than three AI tools in their work often report reduced productivity rather than increased.
However, researchers also point out that AI can still bring benefits if used properly. When AI is used to automate repetitive tasks, the level of physical and emotional exhaustion of workers tends to decrease.
These findings appear in the context that many businesses are strongly promoting the application of AI in work.
For example, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang once encouraged employees to use AI for most tasks. Some companies have also begun to evaluate performance based on the level of AI use or the amount of code created by AI.
According to researchers, "AI-induced cognitive exhaustion" can cause significant costs for businesses. Affected people said they experience fatigue when making decisions more than 33%.
In large organizations, poor quality decision-making can cause losses of hundreds of millions of USD each year.
The study published in Harvard Business Review suggests that businesses need to design workflows with AI reasonably to reduce mental pressure on employees.
If managed properly, AI can still help increase productivity without causing negative consequences for workers' cognitive health.
