Is AI Becoming Too Much?

Happy Thursday Friends —

This week I opened my inbox to an offer for an AI-generated Summary of the latest email. It was a one-line email.

One sentence.

One.

And somehow, someone, somewhere thought we needed artificial intelligence involved. WUT?

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-AI. There are great day-to-day uses and I take advantage of some of them. Some of the tools coming out right now are incredible for research, automation, brainstorming, reducing repetitive work, etc. There are modules that can pull data trends that maybe I would miss otherwise...or at least it would take me longer...but lately???

It's starting to feel like everything is talking at us all the time.

AI summaries

AI assistants

AI-generated search results (please just give me link to the fully researched university publication!)

AI recommendations

AI responses before we've even finished typing the question!

And I think we're quietly drifting to a place where "more information is being confused with "more clarity".

More Noise Does Not Automatically = Better Decisions

Ironically, my annoyance with my inbox is the exact same thing I see on a larger scale inside overwhelmed organizations.

When teams feel pressure, organizations often respond by adding:

• more meetings

• more dashboards

• more tracking

• more notifications

• more process

• more tools

• and now… more AI

But none of those things automatically solve the underlying issue.

Because if the foundation is unclear, if data is old / bad, if processes are broken, adding more layers usually creates more noise — not more resolution and not more visibility.

And visibility is what people are actually searching for.

Not another notification.
Not another summary.
Not another tool interrupting the workflow every five minutes.

They want to understand:

• what matters

• what’s actually stuck

• what should happen next

• where the real problems are

• and why work still feels harder than it should

Even in the case where AI is showcasing a trend you've missed - it doesn't tell you what that trend means. You still have to know your business, your employees, and your clients to understand what the trend is telling you. And maybe if you start understanding those things in the first place, you won't need seven new reports. Maybe we all need to collectively take a breath. Maybe...sometimes...

We Need Less Input — Not More

I don't think I'm alone in this. Based on conversations I've had, comments I've overheard, and meetings I've been part of, I think a lot of people are hitting a quiet saturation point.

Not because technology is bad. (Obviously I enjoy technology!)

But because our brains were never designed to process this much constant interruption and context switching.

And honestly?

I don’t always need AI to summarize a one-line email for me.

Sometimes I just want:

• a clean search result

• a quiet browser

• a simple workflow

• fewer pop-ups

• fewer interruptions

• and enough space to think clearly

I actually spend the first hour of my day computer free. I read business related material on paper or paperwhite. I water things in the yard and breathe air. I review yesterday and prep myself for today - do I need to shuffle the order of things? Do I need to make calls? Do I need snacks? And then I go to my desk when I'm feeling like a person ready to function and not like I'm just going to plug myself into the AI algorithm and hope for the best.

This desire to pull back? That’s part of why alternative browsers and search tools are starting to gain attention again.

Some options people are exploring:

• Firefox

• Brave

• DuckDuckGo

• Kagi

• Vivaldi

Not necessarily because they hate AI…but because they miss intentionality. They miss choosing the next step over being thrown a data salad.

Clarity Still Matters More Than Volume

This applies to individuals as well as organizations.

Individuals are going to perform better when they have one clear stream of information versus twenty new things that they have to sort through to determine which is correct / the flavor of the week.

Organizationally, I’ve seen teams working incredibly hard while still feeling:

• overwhelmed

• disconnected

• reactive

• unclear on priorities

• buried under operational noise

And in many cases, the answer wasn’t “work harder.”

It was:

• simplify

• identify the blockers

• reduce the friction

• reduce the inputs

• improve visibility

• stop solving symptoms

• create operational clarity

Because work getting done is not always the same thing as meaningful progress.

And more information is not always the same thing as understanding.