Why Some Early Adopters of AI Are So Stressed (The Busywork Paradox)

Jan 6

Elijah and Kevin kick off the new year with a blunt reality check, AI is not just “a tool,” it is reshaping how work feels. They unpack a surprising downside of automation: when AI removes the low stress busywork, people can end up stuck in high stakes decision mode all day. They also break down why “vibe coding” is getting confusing, the difference between developer-grade tools (Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code) and consumer app builders (Replit, Opal, Lovable). Finally, they dig into the messy middle of apps, connectors, context windows, and why cross-checking outputs across models is becoming a new baseline skill.

AI at Work — Why Some Early Adopters of AI Are So Stressed (The Busywork Paradox)

AI at Work Podcast — Why Some Early Adopters of AI Are So Stressed (The Busywork Paradox) with Elijah Szasz

Takeaways

Automating “minutiae” can raise stress, you lose the natural recovery moments in your day.
AI transformation is rarely just one department, sales bleeds into ops, finance, and everything else.
Vibe coding now means two things: pro dev tooling vs consumer prompt-to-app tools, and they break differently.
Bigger context windows help, but they also increase drift and confusion unless you add checks and structure.
The new power move is verification: multiple chats, multiple models, and feedback loops, not blind trust.

Chapters

00:00 Intro + New Year banter

01:21 Focus, presence, and productivity intentions

04:07 “The time before”: why this AI moment feels different

05:30 When AI removes busywork, and raises stress

08:30 Why AI adoption can’t live in silos

11:05 Where most organizations really are with AI

13:31 Multitasking with AI: the “stew pot” workflow

16:55 Inconsistent models and building on shifting ground

19:38 Vibe coding: dev tools vs consumer no-code

22:43 Singularity talk and the importance of domain expertise

25:41 GPT apps/connectors: promise vs reality