A recent Harvard Business Review article explores a counter-intuitive idea: AI does not necessarily reduce work, it intensifies it.
We often assume automation creates relief. Instead, AI can increase expectations, accelerate pace, and expand scope. The result is not less work, but more output demanded in the same amount of time.
Intensity Effect – As AI speeds up tasks, organisations raise the bar. Faster drafting means more drafts. Faster analysis means more analysis.
Expectation Creep – What was once excellent becomes average. AI resets performance baselines almost overnight.
Cognitive Load – Managing, checking, refining, and prompting AI adds a new layer of mental effort.
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If AI helps you spin more plates, the risk is not efficiency. It is exhaustion. Are you designing for productivity, or just higher throughput?
