The tech attention crisis has hit the workplace. One company thinks AI is the cure

Tech addiction and constant phone checking are making it harder for employees to concentrate. ServiceNow wants to use AI to solve it.

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Thanks to a wave of landmark lawsuits against some of the world’s largest social media companies, the debate over tech addiction has been thrust back into the spotlight. For employers, the issue is showing up in a familiar way: workers struggling to stay focused, their attention constantly pulled toward their phones.

When Jayney Howson, ServiceNow’s chief learning officer, noticed the same pattern in her own workforce, she took action. The company created “mind gyms” on its AI-powered learning platform, where a “personal professor” guides employees through short cognitive exercises designed to strengthen focus, critical thinking, and mental agility.

“When people moved from the fields and the mines and the factories onto a desk, we had an obesity epidemic and then gyms were created so that people could find time to go and build muscle,” Howson said. “The same thing is true now for the mind.”

One exercise lets sales employees practice pitches with lifelike AI customers that carry on natural conversations and scores employees on aspects like eye contact, filler words, and conciseness. Some 75% of employees return to repeat the exercise, Howson said.

The approach raises an obvious question: Can more technology really combat a tech distraction problem? Howson argues that the answer depends on how HR leaders use it, adding that AI should complement human interaction rather than replace it. 

After practicing with AI avatars, for example, sales employees pair up with coworkers to apply  those same skills in real conversations

“The narrative right now is all about what the human is doing wrong,” Howson said. “We’ve got to change the narrative to: are we creating the conditions for incredible human potential to be unlocked?”

Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com