The AI work dream we were sold went like this: use AI and work gets easier, days feel calmer, and your mind is finally free to focus on what matters. More interesting tasks, more creative thinking, more energy left for life outside work. But that promise is already starting to crack.

A 2025 MIT report suggests that around 95% of generative AI pilots inside companies are failing to deliver on their promises. Other research, including work from the Stanford Social Media Lab in collaboration with research team BetterUp Lab, suggests AI tools can end up creating more work, not less.

Much of the conversation has focused on what this means for businesses and the bottom line. But as evidence also grows linking heavy AI use to weaker critical thinking and learning skills, a more urgent question emerges: what is using AI at work doing to our minds?