As many companies push their employees to test out the AI waters, new research warns of the effects of diving too far into the deep end. According to a new study published in the Harvard Business Review, AI tools can increase productivity, but overuse can lead to mental fatigue that makes it harder to focus and make decisions.

The study, conducted by Boston Consulting Group, dubbed that mental fog “AI brain fry,” which sounds like it could be a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.

The fog of more

Surveyed workers said they felt more productive when they used one, two, or even three AI tools simultaneously. But once a fourth tool was introduced, that trend reversed—in part, because AI agents are like children doing the dishes: They may be helping, but you still have to make sure they’re not breaking anything.

All of that oversight can be exhausting. One senior engineering manager in the study likened it to having “a dozen browser tabs open in my head, all fighting for attention.”

Some industries are feeling it more than others: The study found that employees in marketing, HR, operations, engineering, finance, and IT were most likely to report AI-related mental fatigue.

It’s not just brain fry

ActivTrak, which makes software that tracks productivity, also found that AI is having some unintended consequences in the workplace. According to the Wall Street Journal, when employees started using AI tools:

• They spent twice as much time on email and messaging (and probably picking the perfect emoji).
• But they spent 9% less time on focused work, like figuring out complex problems.

AI does save employees time, but…they’re just filling that space with more work, said Gabriela Mauch, ActivTrak’s chief customer officer. That can lead to short-term productivity gains, while also accelerating burnout and mental overload.

So, what’s the sweet spot? Employees appeared to be most productive when they spent 7% to 10% of work hours with AI, per ActivTrak.—BC

All six crew members killed after refueling plane crashed in Iraq. The US military confirmed the death of all crew members yesterday, after the plane involved in the war effort against Iran crashed. The crash was not the result of either hostile or friendly fire, the military said. The crash brought the death toll of US service members in the war up to 13 as of yesterday, per NBC. The US is sending the Marines and more warships to the Middle East as it continues to strike targets in Iran, which continues to retaliate by choking off the Strait of Hormuz and attacking the region. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had been wounded in the attacks and “likely disfigured.”

Judge blocks subpoenas targeting Fed chair. A federal judge quashed the government’s subpoenas to the Fed in a major setback for its criminal investigation into Jerome Powell over remarks he made to Congress about renovations to the central bank’s headquarters. In a 27-page opinion unsealed yesterday, the judge ruled that the purpose of the subpoenas was to pressure Powell to lower interest rates or to resign, saying that the government had provided “no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the president.” Prosecutor Jeanine Pirro plans to appeal and said the decision was made “without legal authority,” per CNBC.

Meta’s new AI model is reportedly not ready for prime time. The company—which is sinking billions into AI hiring, development, and infrastructure—has delayed the release of the model, code-named Avocado, from this month to at least May, the New York Times reported. It’s not because guac is extra, it’s because the model couldn’t beat the latest from rivals Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic in internal testing, per NYT. Company leaders have even contemplated temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini to power its AI products, sources told the newspaper.—AR

Consumers of David, the viral protein slab that seems like it would hit on you at the gym, crashed out this week over allegations that the bar’s calories and fat content are drastically higher than advertised.

According to a class-action lawsuit, independent lab testing found that David bars have at least 400% more fat and 80% more calories than their nutrition labels show, leading influencers to compare themselves to Regina George in that Mean Girls scene where she realizes she’s eating weight-gain bars instead of diet bars.

“No one is getting Regina Georged,” David founder Peter Rahal responded on social media. Rahal maintains that David bars are true to their labeling of 150 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 28 grams of protein because that’s what the body absorbs from each bar. He said the lawsuit’s lab test incorrectly counted nutrition info from EPG, a lab-created fat substitute and key David ingredient that doesn’t get digested.

The $725 million company is hiring celebrity attorney Alex Spiro to countersue, Rahal told writer Emily Sundberg.

This isn’t David’s only controversy. A key investor, Peter Attia, stepped down as chief science officer last month after his name appeared 1,700 times in the Epstein files. David is also fighting an antitrust case over its acquisition of the only company that makes EPG.—ML