Marketplace All-in-One Too much AI in the office is causing "brain fry"
Mar 31, 2026
Matt Kropp, managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group and co-author of a BCG study on workplace AI strain, explains how overseeing AI can exhaust workers. He describes cluttered thinking, rereading, and overload from juggling AI tools. Discussion covers differences between managing people and AI, morale and retention risks, and redesigning work to let AI handle toil while preserving joyful human tasks.
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AI Multitasking Creates Unique Cognitive Overload
- AI can increase cognitive load when workers must closely monitor multiple agents at once.
- Matt Kropp describes humans as ill-equipped for parallel attention, creating a buzzing overload not seen in normal work.
Engineer Describes Feeling Like A Dozen Tabs In Their Head
- An engineering manager reported feeling cluttered, like a dozen browser tabs open in their head while using AI tools.
- They reread the same text, second-guessed more often, and grew impatient during AI-managed workflows.
Speed Compression Intensifies Management Burden
- The rapid speed of AI agents compresses large amounts of work into minutes, intensifying monitoring demands.
- Kropp says tasks that once took hours or days now finish in 10–20 minutes, raising management intensity and strain.