A Harvard Business Review study of 200 tech workers found AI adoption increased productivity but also workload, cognitive fatigue, and hours worked. Researchers identified three patterns: task expansion, blurred boundaries between work and rest, and multitasking explosion. Brian Gubernick argues leaders need disciplined AI practices with clear boundaries to prevent burnout.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Today I want to talk a little bit about AI. The world has been changing so rapidly. I know all of our No Days Off Nation, you of course are following technology. And AI because, well, various artificial intelligence, uh, programs and tools have taken over your world. And if you're getting ahead of it, as so many of you are, you're leveraging those things and trying to learn even more. Well, today I want to talk about a recent article that I read in the Harvard Business Review, and the article was titled, titled AI Doesn't Reduce Work It intensifies it. AI doesn't reduce work, it intensifies it. Now, that headline alone should probably make every member of the No Days Off Nation pause for a moment. Because most of us, when we think AI, we're thinking that AI will free up time, that AI will reduce workload, that AI will make everything easier. Well, their research for this particular article suggests something actually really different. AI does not reduce work according to their research. It actually increases it. So here's what the study found. They studied a 200-person tech company over 8 months. So they embedded with this 200-person technology company for call it 2/3 of a year. AI use was not mandatory. Employees adopted it voluntarily. And you know what happened? Their productivity actually surged. So their productivity went through the roof, but so did their work pace and the scope of the tasks that they were completing. They also began to multitask more frequently. Their work hours increased, and cognitive fatigue increased. So, the people actually did not work less, they worked faster and more efficiently, and therefore, they took on more responsibility. One employee in the article that was, that was quoted, he summarized it as this. He said, you thought maybe because you could be more productive with AI, then you save some time and you can work less. But then really, you don't work less, you just work the same amount or even more. And I think what that employee said is really the trap, because AI is proving to intensify work. See, the researchers identified three major patterns. The first pattern was task expansion. So, AI made new work feel accessible that may not have felt accessible before. So, people stepped into responsibilities that they would have never touched before. Designers, for instance, were coding. Managers were engineering. Researchers were building systems. And so, the scope of these respective roles widened. So, number one, the three patterns. Number one, task expansion. Number two, there were blurred boundaries. What do I mean? Because prompting an AI feels conversational and feels fast, people work during breaks, they work between meetings, they worked at night. And so, it never really felt like extra work, but it really was. And their recovery as a result shrank. Then the third major pattern that was identified in this research was this explosion of multitasking. Multiple AI threads were running at once. There was constant checking of these threads. There was parallel outputs. So it felt pretty productive, but what it really did was increase cognitive load. And I think here's the important part with respect to this: none of this was forced. So AI made doing more feel possible. And so, people just did more. So, what does all of this mean now for you, the entrepreneurs of No Days Off? Well, entrepreneurs are wired for expansion. And if something makes you faster, you don't slow down, instead you add, right? So, AI drafts the email, so you send 5 more. Or AI builds the model, So, you analyze 3 more deals. AI outlines the strategy. So, you launch 2 more initiatives. See, AI doesn't reduce ambition. What it'll end up doing is amplifying that ambition. And that amplification changes expectations for you and for your team. So, the standard rises, the bar begins to move, and the speed becomes the new normal. And I think that's where discipline in your operation and as a leader becomes essential. So the authors of that article, going back to it, they argue that companies need what they were calling an AI practice. So the researchers called it an AI practice. They said all companies need this. So it wasn't just like tools per se, but it was norms. So they needed things like intentional pauses and sequencing. And human grounding. So in simple terms, these researchers believe, based on what they saw, that there needs to be more structure around how AI is used. Because if you don't define the rules, AI defines them for you. And when you have this sort of acceleration without structure, it could lead to fatigue and poor judgment and even burnout, burnout. So this is not meant to be an anti-AI message. I'm quite the opposite. But I do think it is a message around leadership when you think about AI. Like if you're running a team right now and you know that your operations crew or your whoever it may be is leveraging AI at a high level and you might be so ecstatic about all of their output, just recognize that the lines may be blurred a little bit between work and home, turning on and turning off, and, and there may be a lot of multitasking. Multitasking going on. And they may be, you know, operating way outside their scope and all these things feel good until they burn out. Makes sense? So, I think as a leader, we have to be better prepared. So, instead of always asking, hey, how can AI help me do more? Maybe start asking, what should AI eliminate and what should it never expand? For example, AI should compress, you know, these repetitive tasks and data organization. It should compress administrative friction or just lower leverage sort of activities. But AI should not automatically expand the number of initiatives you launch or the late-night engagement of your team or the expectation of instant response. See, AI is, is fuel, but fuel without direction It will just make things burn faster. So what do you do about it, right? So what's your action? I want, want you this week to conduct a simple audit. I want you to write down 3 tasks that AI is helping you complete right now. And then write down 1 area where AI has increased your workload or expectations. And then lastly, write down 1 boundary you will put in place. Maybe it's no AI after 7 PM or no new initiative unless one is completed. So, begin to define the rules and build your own AI practice because AI won't automatically give you your time back. It's going to raise your ceiling. And now it's your job to decide whether that ceiling becomes leverage or it actually becomes pressure. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.
