4 ways to cut AI clutter and reclaim your brainpower

Feeling buried by AI-generated noise? Here are four moves to reduce cognitive load, sharpen strategic focus and avoid “automation without intention.”

By Brian Pittman
April 21, 2025

Many organizations are missing the point as they rush to adopt AI, warns Wade Younger, AI program‑strategy advisor at Humana, where he oversees more than 200 real‑world use cases.

“The danger isn’t that AI will do too little,” he says. “It’s that it will do so much that we’ll stop thinking altogether.” For communicators, that risk shows up as overflowing inboxes of AI‑generated drafts, dashboards no one interprets and “personalized” messages that somehow feel identical.

Younger argues that the real promise of AI isn’t to crank out more content faster—it’s to slash what he calls “cognitive load” so you can reclaim your discernment, originality and strategic headspace.

“Our greatest advantage isn’t speed,” he explains. “It’s judgment. And if AI can give us even a fraction of that bandwidth back — then maybe, just maybe, we’ve built something worth keeping.”

Here are his tips to help you protect your brainpower and scale AI responsibly:

Run a critical-thinking diagnostic on your work. “AI is an incredible accelerator,” Younger says, “but the moment we stop interrogating its answers, we shift from pilot to passengers.”

That’s why he recommends pausing for a quick gut-check to ensure your brain — not the bot — is still in the driver’s seat. Specifically, he suggests watching for these warning signs:

Intellectual passivity: “This happens when you accept AI output without critical reflection — when the first draft that pops out of AI is the same draft that goes live,” says Younger.

If you can’t point to a single judgment call you made in a post or piece of content — word choice, nuance, framing — then you’ve let the “robot run the newsroom.”

Erosion of originality: “This happens when language and ideas begin to feel algorithmic and indistinguishable,” Younger continues. “You see it when your brand voice begins to sound like every other prompt pack.”

For example, when six departments all push the phrase, “unlock potential” or “delve into data insights” in the same week, you’re not scaling creativity— you’re scaling mediocrity, he warns.

Loss of ethical discernment: “This happens when AI decisions are trusted without probing their assumptions or implications,” Younger says. “You have to stop and question the context and ethics behind the data you’re seeing — including who might be misrepresented or left out.”

For example, an AI generated infographic might celebrate average salary gains but ignore the gender pay gap because the underlying dataset was skewed.

“AI should amplify human judgment — not replace it,” Younger adds. “When we abdicate all our mental work to machines, we risk becoming curators of content rather than creators of meaning.”

Delegate the drudgery to AI. Too many teams toss anything repetitive at AI, cross their fingers and hope the strategy sorts itself out. That’s a fast track to what Younger calls “automation without intention,” an output surge that floods channels with quicker, cheaper yet hollow content.

His three-step playbook helps you offload the grind to AI while protecting the brainpower you need for more meaningful, high-impact work:

Audit your workload for redundancies: “Identify the repetitive or draining tasks you do each week, then hand those off to AI,” he says. “Use that freed-up time to focus on high-impact work that drives strategy and growth.”

Meeting transcription or summarization, boilerplate email intros and basic KPI pulls all qualify, because they usually require little creativity or insight. That’s where Zoom’s built-in AI recap or Otter.ai can help with meeting notes, Canary Mail or Superhuman’s GPT can assist with email, and GA4’s AI answers can handle report pulls.

Use AI for “thought partnering,” not just output: “Instead of relying on AI just for deliverables, use it as a thinking tool,” Younger suggests. “Ask it questions. Brainstorm with it. Use it to surface new angles or challenge your assumptions. This keeps your critical thinking sharp.”

Schedule weekly reflection time: “AI may help you do more, but make sure you’re also thinking more,” he says. “Block 30 minutes a week just to reflect: What worked? What surprised you? What do you need to ask or explore further? That’s where the insights live.”

Explore, experiment and choose the right tools. “As communicators look to reduce cognitive load and elevate their strategic value, the right tools make all the difference,” says Younger. “You don’t need a master’s degree in data science to start. You just need curiosity and a willingness to explore.”

Here are three AI tools he recommends to any communicator beyond the usual ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. They’re especially worthwhile for those just starting out. Consider them your personal “mini stack” if you aren’t already using paid or enterprise versions of other more established models:

Pi (by Inflection AI): “Pi is a conversational AI assistant designed to feel natural, thoughtful and personal. It’s like having a smart companion that helps you think through ideas, ask questions and clarify your thoughts,” Younger says.
“The back-and-forth style of dialogue encourages deep reflection and helps refine your messaging or strategy before it ever hits a slide or press release,” he adds. “For communicators, Pi is a valuable, more EQ-oriented thinking partner — especially when brainstorming narratives.”

Perplexity AI: Perplexity combines an LLM with real-time web access. “It offers grounded, cited answers to your questions and is excellent for research, fact-checking and understanding topics with nuance and accuracy,” Younger says. “The ability to get answers with sources makes it particularly useful for communicators who need to maintain credibility while exploring new topics. It’s your always-on research analyst, accessible anytime.”

CopyAI: “Need help writing a campaign message, product launch email or web copy?” Younger asks. “CopyAI is built for marketers and communicators who want high-quality content fast. It provides smart, tailored copy suggestions based on your inputs. Instead of starting from scratch, you’re working from a strong draft,” he says. “It doesn’t replace creativity — it fuels it.”

Request more AI training. According to a recent IBM Institute for Business Value & Morning Consult “Global AI Adoption Index” study, 45%of employees say AI-driven workflows overwhelm them. Yet only 18%of companies provide formal AI upskilling.

“That’s not just a gap — it’s a disconnect between innovation and implementation,” warns Younger. “Employees are being asked to adapt on top of already full plates. Without designated time or incentives to learn, AI becomes another stressor, not a solution.”

Here’s his three-part fix, for managers and comms team members alike:

Treat AI enablement more like change management. “Communicate clearly, often and humanely about AI expectations and training,” Younger advises “It can’t be a one-off.”
Make training mandatory. “If you don’t prioritize training, neither will staff,” he says. “Making it mandatory isn’t about forcing compliance but showing investment in growth.”
Create AI champions inside each department. “Let peers lead peers,” suggests Younger. “It builds trust and relevance and feels more like an initiative that everybody can buy into.”

Younger also stresses that leaders must view AI as part of the employee experience, not just the tech stack. That’s why he advises carving out monthly “learning sprints” — two-hour blocks where staff can upskill and experiment without hurting KPIs.

“When employees see practical payoffs, AI suddenly shifts from threat to co-pilot,” he assures. “That’s the moment tech finally works for your talent—not the other way around.”

Join us for Ragan’s AI for Communicators Certificate Course on May 7, 14 and 21, where instructor Alex Sévigny, PhD, APR (McMaster University) and guest execs from Hilton Worldwide, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will dig into the AI skills you need to stay up to date.

Brian Pittman will moderate the course, is a Ragan event producer and dean of Ragan Training. A veteran journalist, storyteller, Hollywood screenwriter and surfer, he can be reached at brianp@ragan.com.