AI & Future of Work - JUNE 2026
1. Future of work
Source: https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-people-are-really-using-ai-in-2026
The new AI models have become adept at mimicking human thinking, which makes it tempting to let them do this for us. AI is also becoming a go-to for people seeking help for emotional issues, including comfort or advice about personal relationships.
2. Emerging name : “AI brain fry”
is an emerging term used to describe the mental fatigue, fog, and overload that people feel when they use or oversee too many AI tools at once (usually more than 3 tools), especially in knowledge work. The attention is split across several interfaces, prompts, and outputs, and the brain struggles to keep track of what came from where.
Studies linked this state to high AI oversight and heavy multitasking, where workers must constantly check, compare, and correct AI results instead of focusing on the core task.
Paradoxically, AI brain fry can occur even when AI is meant to “save time,” because the coordination cost and information load grow faster than the benefits.
It is related to, but distinct from, longer‑term burnout: AI brain fry is often acute and task‑bound, through intense AI use. By contrast, well‑designed AI workflows with a limited number of tools and clear roles can reduce repetitive strain without triggering this overload.
For HR professionals, recognizing AI brain fry helps in designing policies, tool stacks, and learning experiences that support cognition instead of overwhelming it.
3. Prompting better
Batch your tasks into one message.
Three separate prompts = three full context reloads.
One prompt with three tasks = one reload.
Instead of: “Summarize this article” then “List the main points” then “Suggest a headline” write: “Summarize this article, list the main points, and suggest a headline.”
4. Save money by reducing token usage (often by 65++%): Use Markdown files instead of PDFs, Word docs, or heavily formatted HTML
At least, here are the 2 reasons
a) Minimal markup, maximal structure
PDFs and DOCX files contain fonts, layout instructions, compression, objects that must be “decoded”, HTML often include large amounts of scripts, and verbose tags
For an HR professional, this means policy documents, onboarding guides, or training notes converted to Markdown can be fed into AI with far fewer tokens while keeping headings, lists, and links intact.
b) Better human readability and easier long-term maintenance
Markdown files are plain text and easy to review, merge, and track over time. Readable without special tools, encouraging reuse and updates by HR teams, not just engineers.
c) Practical benefits for HR and other professionals’ use cases
Presentation content: Convert slide outlines, SOPs, and training notes to Markdown so you can feed large datasets into models without exhausting context windows.
Chatbot knowledge bases: Store FAQs, escalation paths, and policy summaries as Markdown so the bot’s retrieval system works with smaller and cleaner parts of words
5. MFCCI – HRDC Training Center
MFCCI organizes in-house/public HRDC claimable trainings on AI (half-day/full day)
. Microsoft Copilot: AI awareness & Overview
. Mastering your ChatGPT skills
. Claude Code & Claude Cowork
. Creating your HR chatbot (onboarding, FAQ, etc…)
. AI sales transformation
. AI leadership & AI champions
Contact matthew(@)mfcci.com for further question
