Will AI fatigue follow the same path as the social media fatigue of the past?
Until a little while ago, we often heard the term "social media fatigue".
If you open your timeline, you are flooded with someone's success, someone's anger, someone's righteousness, and someone's happy daily life. What was supposed to be interesting at first, before you know it, becomes something that just makes you tired to look at. Social media, which was a tool for connecting, eventually became a "place where you have to keep connecting."
Even so, social media did not disappear.
I think people didn't so much quit social media as they learned how to keep their distance. Turning off notifications. Muting. Locking accounts. Just looking. Moving to a place for close friends only. Stopping posting everything. Social media fatigue was not the end of social media, but a trigger for changing how we interact with it.
AI fatigue is beginning
Now, the term "AI fatigue" is gradually becoming a reality.
In May 2026, a post titled “I'm Tired of Talking to AI” appeared on Hacker News, a community where engineers and researchers gather, and it received over 1,700 likes. The fact that it is not "non-technical people skeptical of AI," but people who have been actively using AI who are feeling tired, is a sign that something is starting to change.
AI is convenient. It writes text, summarizes, fixes code, and answers questions. It finishes tasks that used to take time in a few seconds. That is why many services have started incorporating AI. AI is in search, support, business tools, learning apps, and text creation.
However, when there are too many things that are supposed to be convenient, people feel tired of them too.
Every time I read an AI's answer, I have to check, "Is this true?" Every service returns text with a similar tone and similar structure. In situations where I want to ask a human, an AI chatbot appears first. Even though I am in trouble, the other party returns only polite words without having any emotions.
The reason I am tired is not because I dislike AI. Rather, those who have used AI a lot may be more likely to notice this fatigue. According to one survey, 88% of heavy AI users report feeling burnout. In March 2026, based on research by the Boston Consulting Group, CNN Business introduced the term "AI brain fry." It is cognitive fatigue caused by constantly managing AI tools, and some describe it as "the feeling of having dozens of browser tabs open in your head."
Social media fatigue and AI fatigue, phenomena with the same roots
If social media fatigue was born from "excessive connection with humans," AI fatigue is born from "excessive artificial dialogue." On social media, we were tired of other people's gazes and reactions. With AI, we are starting to get tired of conversations with something that is no one.
These two look like different phenomena, but their roots are very similar.
Both were technologies that expanded freedom at first. Social media gave everyone a place to post. AI gave everyone a means to access knowledge and work support. However, when it changes from "something convenient to have" to "something that is taken for granted," the situation changes. What was a tool you could use when you wanted to, becomes an environment you have to use. Here, people start to get tired.
The problem is not the technology itself. The problem is that you cannot choose.
What fatigue is looking for
When it came to social media fatigue, what people were really looking for was not the complete disappearance of social media. It was being able to avoid seeing things they didn't want to see. Having the freedom not to react. Not having relationships break even if you keep your distance. In other words, it was an escape route.
The same can be said for AI fatigue.
There are certainly situations where I want to use AI. When I want to organize a large amount of information, when I want to create a draft of a text, when I want a hint for code, or when I want to know the entrance to an unknown field, AI is very useful. However, I don't want to talk to AI in every situation. I just want to make an inquiry, but I am made to go back and forth with an AI chat. I just want accurate information, but I am made to read plausible-sounding text. In situations where human judgment and responsibility are required, AI comes to the forefront.
At that moment, users don't think 'AI is unnecessary,' but rather feel 'it would have been better without AI here.'
The design of AI products is being called into question
I believe this is an important sign for those building AI products. Simply including AI is no longer rare. Rather, how not to include AI, where to pull it back, and how to return control to humans will determine the quality of design from here on out.
Just as features like muting, blocking, turning off notifications, and private sharing became important as social media matured, AI will also need 'fatigue-reducing design.'
Clearly stating that it is AI. Providing sources. Admitting uncertainty when unsure. Not forcing conversation. Allowing a switch to a human. Letting users turn off the AI. These are not just additional features. They will become the minimum requirements for trust.
Fatigue is merely a waypoint
Social media fatigue did not end social media. However, it left us with a sense of 'choosing how to connect.'
AI fatigue will likely not end AI either. Rather, I think it is a stage for learning how to maintain a sense of distance from AI.
We have grown tired of convenient things many times before. We grew tired of email. We grew tired of social media. We grew tired of notifications. And now, we are starting to grow tired of conversations with AI. But each time, people haven't discarded the technology; they have gradually changed how they use it. Instead of being connected all the time, we connect when necessary. Instead of seeing everything, we choose what we want to see. Instead of asking AI everything, we separate what we leave to AI and what we take on as humans.
If AI fatigue follows the same path as social media fatigue, it is not entirely a cause for pessimism. It is also part of the process of AI transforming from a special trend into an everyday tool. And everyday tools require not just performance, but also a sense of distance.
AI becoming smarter and us being able to interact with AI comfortably are not the same thing. What will be questioned from now on is not how much AI can do, but how much distance we want to live with AI.
