AI Tools: A Double-Edged Sword for Productivity

In late 2022, when ChatGPT made its debut, Anurag Garg, founder of PR agency Everest PR, was quick to encourage his 11-member team to incorporate AI into their daily tasks. He saw the potential for his business to stay competitive by utilizing the technology in activities such as generating story ideas, drafting media pitches, and transcribing notes from meetings and interviews.

However, the implementation of AI tools did not yield the expected increase in productivity. Instead, it introduced stress and complications for the team. Employees found that tasks, rather than being completed faster, were taking longer. The need to carefully craft prompts for ChatGPT and verify its output for errors, which were frequent, consumed more time than expected. Every update to the platform further complicated matters as the team had to familiarize themselves with new features.

“There were too many distractions. The team complained that their tasks were taking twice the amount of time because we were now expecting them to use AI tools,” Garg explained. He divides his time between the U.S. and India, overseeing operations for Everest PR. The intended purpose of AI—streamlining workflows—was being undermined. Instead of simplifying their jobs, it was adding layers of complexity, leading to stress and burnout among the team.

Garg himself felt increasingly overwhelmed by the proliferation of AI tools in the market. He used several platforms—ChatGPT for general tasks, Zapier for team management, and Perplexity for research—but found the constant need to keep up with multiple tools a source of frustration. “There’s an overflow of AI tools in the market, and no single tool solves multiple problems. As a result, I constantly needed to keep tabs on multiple AI tools to execute tasks, which became more of a mess,” he said. The challenge of managing these tools grew, as Garg found himself struggling to remember which tool was supposed to handle what task. “I started getting utterly frustrated,” he added.

One of the main issues was the rapid evolution of AI tools. “The market is flooded with AI tools, so if I invest in a specific app today, there’s a better one available next week. There’s a constant learning curve to stay relevant, which I was finding hard to manage, leading to burnout,” Garg explained. Ultimately, he decided to scale back the mandatory use of AI tools in the company’s workflow. Now, the team primarily uses AI for research, and overall, the environment is more relaxed and productive.

“It was a learning phase for us. The work is more manageable now as we are not using too many AI tools. We’ve gone back to everything being done directly by the team, and they feel more connected and more involved in their work. It’s much better,” Garg said, reflecting on the experience.

The challenges faced by Garg and his team are mirrored in recent studies. A survey conducted by the freelancer platform Upwork among 2,500 knowledge workers across the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada found that 96% of top executives expect AI to boost overall productivity. However, 81% also admitted that the use of AI has increased demands on employees over the past year. Meanwhile, 77% of employees surveyed reported that AI tools have reduced their productivity, while adding to their workload. Moreover, 47% said they were unsure how to achieve the productivity gains their employers were expecting from them.

This disconnect is causing concern. According to a separate study conducted by CV writing company Resume Now, 61% of respondents believe that using AI in the workplace will lead to burnout. This figure rises to 87% for workers under the age of 25. The same study also revealed that 43% of workers believe AI will have a negative impact on their work-life balance.

Even outside the realm of AI, employees are already feeling burdened by the sheer number of work-related apps. A survey by work management platform Asana found that of 9,615 knowledge workers surveyed in six countries, 15% of those using six to 15 different apps reported missing messages and notifications due to the abundance of tools. For employees using 16 or more apps, 23% said their efficiency had dropped and their attention span was negatively impacted by the constant switching between platforms. University of California, Los Angeles, management professor Cassie Holmes commented on the situation, saying, “Using multiple apps requires additional time to learn them and switch between them, and this lost time is painful because we are so sensitive to wasted time.”

Lawyer turned coach Leah Steele has observed the growing burden that AI-based productivity tools are placing on legal professionals. Having experienced a similar scenario in a previous role where new technology increased her client load from 50 to 250, she now helps professionals overcome burnout. “The biggest thing I’m seeing is this continuous competing demand to do more with less – but companies are not really considering whether the systems and the tech that they’re introducing are giving an outcome that isn’t helpful,” said Steele, who is based in Bristol.

Steele argues that the rise in burnout isn’t just a result of increased workloads, but also the emotional toll of a tech-driven environment. “When we’re looking at burnout, it’s not just about the volume of the work we’re doing, but how we feel about the work and what we’re getting from it,” she said. Many professionals, particularly in law, entered their fields with the goal of making a personal impact through client interactions. AI, with its emphasis on speed and efficiency, often removes that human element. “You could feel stressed about having ended up in an environment of high volume and low control,” Steele noted, adding that workers also fear job displacement by technology.

The legal sector in particular has seen challenges in integrating AI. Richard Atkinson, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, acknowledged that while AI can streamline some tasks, it often creates additional work for lawyers. “Learning to use these tools takes time, and lawyers often need to undertake training and adapt their work processes. Many technologies were not originally designed for the legal sector, which can make the transition more challenging,” Atkinson said.

Despite the hurdles, some believe AI, when used correctly, can be beneficial. Alicia Navarro, founder and CEO of Flown, a platform that helps individuals focus on tasks requiring deep concentration, acknowledges the flood of AI tools but emphasizes the importance of appropriate use. “There’s such a huge amount of filtering and learning that has to take place before these tools can even start to become productive elements in our lives,” Navarro said. However, she also highlighted how small businesses could benefit from AI. “It’s an incredibly empowering thing for start-ups to be able to do a lot more, or companies to be able to pay more dividends or pay their team more.”

While AI tools offer potential for enhancing productivity, they also pose significant challenges. The experience of Garg and his team underscores the importance of balancing technology with human-centric work environments to avoid stress and burnout.