James King

I have been using Glean and Claude and other tools and they are making life better.

But I am now wondering about some of the implications on how I work and how I feel while working.

Does AI rot my brain like doomscrolling?

My first observation is that I can use AI to stop the flood of noise in the information I am receiving. It can take 15 messages and the recording of a meeting to identify key points and things for me to follow up on.

This is the opposite of Twitter X; LinkedIn, news feeds and Bluesky, where I start simple and then find myself spending 30 minutes reading about the end of the world and the cuteness of red pandas.

But I have found a risk that I can ask AI for an update, then I can read through what it says, ask some questions and then get a report. Then I don’t read the report and just skim it.

So I think there is a skill needed and a discipline involved to actually keep both AI and myself goal focused when I want to get an outcome. Or timeboxed when I am just researching.

I also notice that, like slack and social media, it is tempting for people to start and AI job while they are in a meeting, or to look like they need to check the pulse of what it is up to. This means not focusing on the meeting to serve the machine that should be serving us.

So AI should help me think and not help me drift into thinly scanning lots of content without really being present anywhere.

Do I context switch more?

I have spent years telling people to stop multi-tasking and context switching. I use Pomodoro like techniques and try to allow myself time to focus.

Now with AI though, I find it easy to start an agent on a journey and then leave it doing its work. So I could stare at the screen but instead I roam off to do something else.

Even though I am early in my journey I find myself starting several jobs and letting them run. Its like have a team rather than a single HAL like intelligence.

But that means I do context switch and then need to pause and regain context before continuing something. This works really well for me, but I wonder if it also means I am not ruminating on a problem long enough.

The problem does not seem critical yet, but I think I need to unlearn and relearn a way of working where I can maximise the multiple AI robots doing things for me while minimising the risk of context switching when I move from problem to problem.

So I don’t think I can say anymore that I will not context switch. But at the same time, context switching gives a small endorphin hit and creates the illusion of activity being the same as understanding and problem solving.

So I need to understand how to apply focused thinking and diffuse thinking in a new context, but with the same biological strengths and constraints that cave men had.

Does my brain get a break to recover?

Context switching is one thing, but I also find that the type of thinking I do with AI is different.

I used to think hard about something, then have to do a bunch of low-thinking tasks to get files, read things, type up and edit content and so forth.

AI now does a lot of the boring stuff and I can act like an editor or a film critic. So my brain can focus on high value thinking.

That is great of course. But continuous high value thinking without a break to do low-value thinking means my brain spends more time on complex problem solving and abstract thinking.

I have found this means I get more tired more quickly. I can do things faster, but I need to manage my energy and build in time to recharge myself.

Its actually quite similar to when I used to play some awesome but intense computer games. I would go hard while not even realising a couple of hours had flown by, then realise I was tired and still pumped with adrenaline. Great fun but not the way I want to work all day and night.

This is not a downside as such, but it is something that I want to get better at.

So what next?

Maybe AI will take over the world and I will just go to work to push the go button, like Joe Jetson. Or maybe we will all be on permanent holiday while AI runs the world like in some science fiction novels.

In the meantime though I want to relearn how to optimise the way I use this new tool by:

• Making sure I don’t allow it to distract me from being present when I want to be;
• Learning to leverage multi-tasking while managing the cost of context switching; and
• Realise that working on heavy thinking is great, but energy intensive and reflect on how to manage my energy effectively to benifit from this rather than wiping myself out.