Engineers Experience AI Fatigue Despite Higher Productivity

Siddhant Khare, a software engineer at ONA, wrote a recent essay saying AI tools made him more productive but left him more exhausted and prone to burnout. He warned AI reduces production costs while increasing coordination, review, and decision-making burdens; an eight-week Harvard Business Review study of 200 employees reported similar workload creep and cognitive fatigue. Khare recommends timeboxing, guardrails, and workflow changes.