Simon Willison, the co-creator of the Django web framework, has stated that using advanced AI coding agents is making him and other software engineers mentally exhausted. In an interview on "Lenny's Podcast," released on Thursday, Willison described the intense cognitive demand of overseeing multiple autonomous AI systems simultaneously.
Willison, who has over 25 years of experience in software engineering, said that while AI tools accelerate his work and aid research, they also increase the intensity of his job. He reported feeling "wiped out" by 11 a.m. after managing parallel AI agents.
A New Form of Workplace Fatigue
"Using coding agents well is taking every inch of my 25 years of experience as a software engineer, and it's mentally exhausting," Willison said. "I can fire up four agents in parallel and have them work on four different problems. By 11 a.m., I am wiped out for the day."
His experience highlights a growing tension within the AI industry's productivity narrative. While companies promote AI as a time-saving tool, early adopters like Willison report it creates significant mental strain due to the constant oversight required.
Balancing Act and Sleepless Nights
Willison noted the fatigue has intensified since November 2023 with the advent of more advanced agentic AI and open-source tools. He and other engineers are struggling to find a new work-life balance, with some losing sleep over the potential of unattended AI work.
"There's a sort of personal skill we have to learn, which is finding our new limits," he explained. "I've talked to a lot of people who are losing sleep because they're like, 'My agents could be doing work for me, I'm just going to stay up an extra half-hour.'"
Experts Echo Concerns Over AI Strain
Willison's observations align with warnings from researchers and critics. Analysts from the Harvard Business Review and Gary Marcus, a professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University, have cautioned that AI tools risk overextending workers rather than alleviating their burden.
This reality contrasts with the vision of some AI leaders. In a March interview, Vinod Khosla, a major OpenAI investor, suggested most five-year-olds today may not need jobs as adults. In February, Boris Cherny of Anthropic predicted the software engineer role would be phased out of the US workforce this year.
Defending Engineers Amid an 'AI-Pilled' Culture
When discussing other highly engaged "AI-pilled" workers, Willison said he is "standing in defense" of engineers. He warned that the dynamic of constantly leveraging AI can border on compulsion, despite the clear productivity gains.
"I am getting more time, but I am exhausted," Willison concluded. "The exhaustion from that sort of intensity of work has been a really big surprise for me." He affirmed he continues to use the tools because they amplify his capabilities, despite the significant mental cost.