A recent Futurism article looks at how artificial intelligence — even when it boosts productivity — is contributing to burnout for many knowledge-workers, especially in tech roles. While AI tools can speed up tasks, they also create a productivity paradox: engineers and other employees often end up working faster and taking on more work, which can amplify stress and fatigue rather than reduce it. This reality challenges the common belief that AI will meaningfully lighten workloads.
Software engineer Siddhant Khare — who has written about what he calls “AI fatigue” — describes how reliance on AI tools transforms developers from creators into constant reviewers. He says the job often becomes like “judging an assembly line that never ends,” because while AI speeds up production, coordination, review, and decision-making burdens fall on humans. Khare says he shipped more code than ever yet felt more drained than in any previous period of his career because of relentless task-switching and mental load.
Researchers studying workplaces where AI was widely adopted found similar effects: AI enables employees to take on broader tasks — including work they might previously have outsourced — and blur work–life boundaries. This leads to “workload creep,” where the time saved on individual tasks is quickly absorbed by new responsibilities, ultimately increasing overall work intensity and raising the risk of burnout, fatigue, and lower work quality.
Experts warn that without thoughtful guidelines and organisational practices that protect focus and limit constant task jumping, the human cost of AI productivity gains could outweigh the benefits. The tools themselves don’t get tired — but people do — and as one engineer put it, “AI doesn’t get tired between problems. I do.”
