We keep hearing that AI will “take work off our plate.” The truth is subtler. AI can take tasks off our plate, but only if we keep ownership on our shoulders, and build the guardrails that make delegation safe. ------------- Context: The Two Extremes We Keep Falling Into ------------- When teams start experimenting with AI that can take actions, sending messages, updating records, scheduling tasks, changing settings, the first reaction is often excitement. The second reaction is usually a control reflex. We either lock the system down so tightly that it cannot help, or we loosen it too much and hope it behaves. Both extremes are understandable. Over-restriction feels responsible because it minimizes risk. Over-delegation feels productive because it maximizes speed. But both approaches tend to break trust. Over-restriction produces disappointment and abandonment, because people cannot feel value. Over-delegation produces incidents, because the system will eventually act confidently in the wrong direction. The heart of the issue is that many organizations treat AI delegation as a binary choice. Either the AI is “allowed” or it is “not allowed.” That framing misses how delegation works in real life. We do not give a new colleague full authority on day one, and we do not keep them in permanent trainee mode either. We expand autonomy gradually, with clear boundaries and feedback. Agentic AI forces us to become designers of autonomy. Not in a technical sense, but in an operational sense. We are shaping what happens when the system is uncertain, when the context is incomplete, and when the consequences are real. ------------- Insight 1: Autonomy Needs Shape, Not Just Permission ------------- When we give AI the ability to act, the default state becomes momentum. The system will follow instructions, connect dots, and execute steps faster than we can think through edge cases. That is the point, and it is also the risk. So the key question is not “Should AI have autonomy?” It is “What shape should autonomy take?” Autonomy without shape is chaos disguised as productivity.

AI promises relief from overload. Faster answers. Fewer manual steps. Less friction. Yet many teams report something unexpected. Work feels faster, but more exhausting. The reason is not output. It is decisions. ------------- Context ------------- Modern work was already decision-heavy before AI arrived. Every message, request, meeting, and handoff requires judgment. What to prioritize. What to ignore. When to respond. Who should decide. AI accelerates this environment. It surfaces options instantly. It generates alternatives on demand. It reduces the cost of asking, which increases the volume of asking. Decisions that once took effort to surface now arrive continuously. At first, this feels empowering. We are no longer blocked. We can move quickly. Over time, however, the mental load shifts. Instead of spending energy doing work, we spend it choosing between possibilities. AI does not remove decisions. It multiplies them. ------------- Speed Changes the Shape of Cognitive Load ------------- Before AI, effort acted as a natural filter. Writing a document took time. Running analysis required planning. Asking for input involved friction. That friction limited how many decisions reached us. AI removes that filter. Drafts appear instantly. Scenarios can be explored endlessly. Alternatives stack up faster than we can meaningfully evaluate them. This changes the shape of cognitive load. Instead of deep focus on a few decisions, we face shallow consideration of many. Attention fragments. Mental recovery shrinks. The result is a new kind of fatigue. Not from doing too much, but from deciding too often. ------------- Optionality Is Mentally Expensive ------------- More options feel like freedom, but they come with a cost. Every additional option requires evaluation. Every variation demands comparison. When AI offers five versions instead of one, it shifts work from execution to judgment. For high-stakes decisions, this is valuable. For everyday work, it is draining. The brain treats each choice as a micro-stressor. Over hundreds of interactions, these stressors accumulate.