Tell HN: If working with agents means this, robots, please take my job

80% or more of my work day is spent iterating with Claude in a way that generates so much data and so many responses that I can't even keep up with, let alone validate everything.

The speed at which we're able to move forward is insane, but I feel like I’m inside some kind of experiment where my apathy and internal clock displacement are being evaluated.

We're entering an era in which we no longer have the option of not knowing how to do something or not wanting to do it.

we studied so much, specialized so deeply, only to approve or reject AI changes/ideas.

On top of that, my coworkers who arent developers are now having to deal with developers tools so everyone can collaborate, but the mental load is huge and they don't feel able to be honest with leadership about it. we're heading down a terrible path, one where owners benefit enormously, but employees dont.

I could move to another company but I wonder if that is becoming the norm out there

9 points | by tiredagent 3 hours ago

6 comments

  • quinncom 2 hours ago
    “We found that the phenomenon described in these posts—cognitive exhaustion from intensive oversight of AI agents—is both real and significant. We call it “AI brain fry,” which we define as mental fatigue from excessive use or oversight of AI tools beyond one’s cognitive capacity.”

    https://hbr.org/2026/03/when-using-ai-leads-to-brain-fry

    [-]
    • ex-aws-dude 48 minutes ago
      That's something I haven't seen discussed much, what is the "annoyance-cost" of using the tool?

      Say I complete a task 30% faster but what was the annoyance-cost of the model constantly getting it wrong and having to keep correcting it

  • markus_zhang 3 hours ago
    I’m thinking about getting into Robotics given the opportunity. But it’s a vast gap so not sure if it’s going to work. We will see.
  • devInCamelCase 2 hours ago
    I feel the same. After February when we got our team access to claude I 100'xd my work, but felt what I'm now calling agent fatigue.
    [-]
    • 3vidence 2 hours ago
      Honest question what were you doing that could be 100xd

      That did the companys revenue / profit significantly change in some way?

      Even at a large company if a person 100xd their productivity that would meaningfully move the needle.

  • zeroCalories 3 hours ago
    My coworkers and I have an informal agreement to let a few production issues show up until leadership changes their toon.
    [-]
    • bhag2066 11 minutes ago
      Congratulations they'll just replace you with another human before they replace them with AI.

      You've added a step.

  • salawat 2 hours ago
    AI is to Software what CNC was to machinists. It's turning it into something more commoditized and less tilted in favor of skilled labor. The more you actually use these AI setups, the more training data you're giving these companies, the faster everyone gets obsoleted.

    And make no mistake, it's entirely possible at some point they are storing outputs for being trained on to replace your Org's business too. Selling the inference agent is what's paying the bills in theory right now, that may change, and the next logical step is cannibalizing customers.

  • blaxbtc68 2 hours ago
    Well-written article. The diagrams really help explain the concepts.