He tried using AI to get ahead, but it 'fried' his brain: How to protect your focus before it's too late.

A London-based lawyer who started to learn AI to future-proof his career found himself exhausted by the constant release of new models and the pressure to keep up with them. His experience highlights 'AI brain fry', a form of mental fatigue linked to intensive AI use, monitoring multiple tools and checking their output. Research suggests the strain can affect concentration, decision-making and work accuracy.

A London-based lawyer had decided to learn about artificial intelligence (AI) with the hope to stay ahead of others and prepare for the future of his profession. But two years into this learning transition, he found himself exhausted by the very technology he had expected will give him a career advantage over others.

Santiago Barraza Lopez's experience, which he shared in an essay for Business Insider, is an example of a growing problem among professionals who regularly use AI at work. Explaining why he started using AI, Lopez said, "I thought it was the future. I didn't want to wake up 10 years later and realize technology had changed my profession without me. It seemed like the smartest career move I could make. Now, I'm not so sure."

How moving into AI became exhaustingLopez had spent years working as a lawyer before experiencing burnout and deciding to explore a new career. He saw AI as an opportunity to combine his legal background with an emerging technology rather than risk being left behind.

He eventually joined a legal technology company, where his work involved testing advanced AI models, comparing their capabilities and finding out how they can be used in legal work. Lopez said that ironically he "landed a job at a legal tech company thanks to a conversation with ChatGPT. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine my experience with my growing interest in tech."

At first, he enjoyed being someone who others used to approach for advice about AI. But the technology's rapid development very quickly became a source of pressure for him. New models regularly released, sometimes making solutions he had spent weeks to develop unnecessary.

Reflecting on his experience, Lopez, who as per his LinkedIn profile works as a Legal Knowledge Engineer, wrote, "Things that took me weeks to learn or build became obsolete almost overnight."

He eventually began setting boundaries around his personal time, even if that meant missing announcements. He admitted, "I don't regret moving into AI, but I no longer feel as certain about the decision as I once did."

What is AI brain fry?The mental fatigue that people experience due to heavy AI usage has been described with the term 'AI brain fry' by experts. Employees generally feel it when they have to juggle suing multiple tools, check their outputs and go through large volumes of information.

A Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study surveyed more than 1,400 full-time American workers at large companies. According to Euronews, around 14% of them reported experiencing mental fog after intensive interactions with AI systems and the symptoms included difficulty in concentrating, slower decision-making and headaches.

The study found that employees responsible for overseeing AI systems experienced greater mental fatigue. Workers using more than three AI tools simultaneously were more likely to report negative effects, while participants experiencing brain fry made 39% more major mistakes than colleagues who did not report it.

In a CNBC report, recruiter Linda Le described the hidden effort involved in using AI. "Everyone talks about AI boosting productivity, but what they don't mention is how much time you spend babysitting the output," she said.

Le explained that AI could save time on certain tasks but also required substantial corrections. "It's definitely made some things faster, but it's not the magic bullet people think it is," she added.

How can workers avoid AI brain fry?Experts suggest that employees and organisations should focus on using AI effectively rather than simply increasing its usage.

The first thing that workers can do is to start limiting the number of AI tools they manage at a given time and choose only those that genuinely reduce repetitive work for them. They should also leave enough time out to verify the produced results, since correcting inaccurate output can eat into the time that was saved by using AI.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also earlier spoken about the importance of understanding the limitations of AI. As per CNBC, he said that people "have to learn to use these tools for what they're good at, and not blindly trust everything they say".