The week I lost the plot at a startup where the tools worked as advertised
8 hours ago
- #Workplace Satire
- #Cognitive Decline
- #AI Overuse
- A person works at Cogentiv.ai, a company with a founder obsessed with image and a mission that lacks clarity, like building 'the cognitive substrate of Europe.'
- Employees are pressured to use AI reflexively, leading to a loss of personal understanding and competence, as seen in tasks completed without real scrutiny.
- A culture of overwork and performance metrics, symbolized by a token leaderboard, encourages burnout and emotional detachment, with wellness chatbots replacing human connection.
- Critical incidents occur due to automation complacency, such as a notification error from unchecked AI-generated code, highlighting systemic cognitive surrender.
- The narrator experiences 'brain fry' and struggles to think independently, realizing they've 'lost the plot'—the deeper purpose or self-direction—amid reliance on AI tools.
- The workplace normalizes cognitive atrophy, reframing it as enlightenment, with employees facing job insecurity if they don't conform to AI usage mandates.