You’re staring at your keyboard, trying to think of a better AI prompt. None of its answers have been useful so far. AI is supposed to save you time, so why does it feel like you’re pulling a slot machine and hoping the next prompt pays out?
If you recall the 1982 film The Dark Crystal, the Skeksis were energy vampires. Being in the same room with these vultures drained people. That’s how AI can feel.
In a 2024 Upwork-commissioned survey of full-time employees, 77% of AI users said the tools had added to their workload. Workers found themselves fact-checking chatbot answers, wrestling with unfamiliar software and fielding extra assignments from bosses who assumed AI had freed up their calendars.
That mental drain is so common it now has a name: "AI brain fry.”
Fast forward two years and the picture changes. In March 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau asked workers who had used AI on the job in the previous week how much longer their work would have taken without it. About 31% said one to two hours, and another 30% said three hours or more. A quarter said less than an hour. Not everyone came out ahead though. In the same survey, 10% said AI didn’t save them any time, and 4% said it actually made their work take longer.
An hour saved on one task doesn’t mean you get that hour back. If you spend it fixing AI’s mistakes or your boss fills it with new projects, you end up busier than before. Whether AI drains you may come down to what you hand over in the first place.
The AI Co-Worker
When Puneet Nanda’s secretary quit unexpectedly, the founder and CEO of GuruNanda was left juggling an MRI appointment, a dinner reservation, and a flight. So he handed all three to Muse, the personal AI agent Meta launched in September. It booked every one.
“I think it was faster than a new assistant would have been,” Nanda says.
Errands are just the start. ChatGPT writes his LinkedIn posts and pitches ideas for 30-second TikToks with three-second hooks. Claude researches product formulations, drafts preliminary patents, and even reads lawsuits to prepare initial answers.
On chaotic days, he leans on AI to find his focus. He types, “My brain is all over the place! Please organize me and help me focus!” The results, he says, are “unreal.”
Still, Nanda doesn’t claim AI clears his head completely. “It may not relieve mind space,” he says, “but [it] makes me feel confident and secure and content in my answers.”
He believes AI has leveled the playing field. “I truly feel that with AI, I can function better than a 30-year-old version of myself,” he says. He compares the shift to trading his fax machine for email, then for a mobile phone.
Nanda believes entrepreneurs who avoid AI are doing themselves “the biggest disservice.” But he’s quick to add a caution: “Be mindful before blindly following it.”
That’s the catch. AI can save you hours, but what happens when you start handing over the thinking too?
What Happens To Your Brain On AI
Dustin Ray, co-CEO of Bizee, used to lose time hunting down someone to pressure-test an idea with. Now, he opens AI and starts working through it on the spot.
At Bizee, which has helped more than 1 million entrepreneurs launch businesses, Ray uses AI to explore deal structures he hasn’t worked with before and find terms that work for the entrepreneur and the company.
That speed comes with a tradeoff. Ray says you can get into trouble when you stop doing the thinking yourself and rely on AI to do it for you. “Where it starts to hurt is when a muscle goes dormant. If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
A recent MIT Media Lab study reported that “excessive reliance on AI-driven solutions” may contribute to “cognitive atrophy” and shrinking of critical thinking abilities.
That’s the muscle Ray wants to keep exercising. Working through a problem forces you to pull from experience, make connections and think critically. Give AI too much of that work, and you get less practice doing it yourself.
Ray sees the hours AI saves as an opportunity to redirect your attention. For leaders, he says that attention belongs with their teams. “That’s the part you can’t hand off, and it’s also the part you can’t afford to ignore.”
The more work you hand over to AI, the more important it becomes to protect the time and attention you give to other people.
AI vs. Human Relationships
Jon Gordon, bestselling author of The Energy Bus, has spent years warning people about energy vampires. So can AI be one? Gordon says it depends on how you use it.
“Pay attention to how you feel after spending time communicating with AI,” Gordon says. “Are you energized or drained?” Some people close the laptop fired up. Others walk away wiped out.
The same test applies to your relationships. Gordon warns against letting AI conversations replace the calls, coffees, and catch-ups you’d otherwise have with people. Are you texting friends less and chatting with AI more? When you need advice, do you open an app or call someone you trust?
Some work, Gordon says, still needs a human behind it. He wouldn’t hand AI the job of writing his books or building his relationships. “Leadership will be more important than ever,” he says.
As AI takes routine work off your plate, Gordon believes the skills that require another person will only grow more valuable. You still have to build trust, motivate people, and get a team moving in the same direction. That’s where the energy AI saves you is best spent.
No Garlic Required
Next time you’re staring at that blinking cursor, run Gordon’s test. Did your last hour with AI leave you energized or drained?
If it handed you back time to think bigger, tackle harder problems, and show up for your people, it’s working for you. If you’re spending more time prompting than producing, letting your problem-solving muscles go dormant, or confiding in a chatbot instead of a friend, it’s feeding on you.
Unlike the Skeksis, an AI energy vampire can take orders. Hand it the busywork. Keep the thinking and the people for yourself.
Featured image from Jay Yuno/GettyImages
