ADHD, AI and Burnout: Helpful Tool, Dopamine Trap or Both? with Florian Pariset

Can AI genuinely support an ADHD brain, or can it become another source of hyperfocus, dopamine chasing and burnout?

In this episode, Ellie speaks with Florian “Flo” Pariset, the ADHD founder of Notis, an AI assistant designed to do the work your brain refuses to do.

Flo runs his profitable, bootstrapped company as a team of one, using AI agents to support research, content, follow-ups and everyday operations. But this is not a polished success story. Flo shares how two years of intense hyperfocus helped him build his company while also contributing to burnout, and how his ADHD diagnosis changed the way he understood both his work and himself.

Together, Ellie and Flo explore both sides of AI. For many disabled and neurodivergent people, it can provide genuine accessibility, helping bridge the gap between wanting to complete something and being able to begin. At the same time, its speed, novelty and endless possibilities can intensify hyperfocus, feed the search for dopamine and remove the natural stopping points that protect our health and relationships.

They also discuss the concerns people have about AI, including privacy, misinformation, employment, creative ownership, environmental impact and becoming overly dependent on technology.

Topics include:

• ADHD, AI and task paralysis
• Hyperfocus, dopamine and burnout
• Using AI for low-dopamine tasks
• Running a company as a team of one
• AI scepticism and legitimate concerns
• What should never be delegated to technology
• Accountability, boundaries and healthier guardrails
• Using AI without sacrificing the life it is supposed to support

This is an honest conversation about using AI intentionally, keeping human judgement accountable and recognising that technology does not have to be either the villain or the hero.

Follow Flo and subscribe to his Sunday Scaries newsletter:

https://www.notis.ai/mindtheflo/