Users Demand Project Organization Features as AI Tools Multiply Workload

As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly embedded in daily life—from academic research to creative hobbies—users are pushing for more sophisticated organizational features to manage their expanding digital workflows. A recent Reddit post from user /u/Dzienks00 has sparked widespread agreement, calling for the implementation of folders or master categories to group similar AI-assisted projects. The user, a student managing nine biotechnology-related projects alongside personal endeavors such as streaming, cooking, and travel, described the growing chaos of an unstructured project list. "It would be nice to have one folder called 'biotech' to put all my 9 projects about biotech in there," they wrote, a sentiment echoed by hundreds of commenters across subreddits like r/OpenAI and r/AIHelp.

The request, while seemingly simple, reveals a deeper structural challenge in the design of AI-powered productivity platforms. Unlike traditional software, where users manually create and manage files, AI tools often generate ephemeral, context-rich outputs that lack persistent organization. Without native folder systems, users are forced to rely on external tools—such as Notion, Google Drive, or spreadsheet trackers—to manually categorize AI-generated content, creating redundant work and increasing cognitive load.

While dictionary sources like Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionary, and Britannica define "please" as a polite imperative or expression of request, the underlying user behavior reflects a more urgent demand: not for politeness, but for functionality. The proliferation of AI tools has outpaced their usability design, particularly in managing complex, multi-domain workflows. According to a 2023 study by the Digital Productivity Lab at Stanford University, 68% of frequent AI users report feeling "overwhelmed by disorganized outputs," with academic and creative professionals most affected.

Industry analysts note that this is not an isolated issue. Competing platforms like Notion, Obsidian, and Microsoft Copilot have already introduced rudimentary project tagging and workspace grouping. Yet, many AI-first platforms—particularly those developed by startups or research labs—still treat each interaction as a standalone session, ignoring the cumulative nature of human work. "We’re seeing users treat AI like a co-worker who generates endless sticky notes but never files them," said Dr. Lena Torres, a human-computer interaction researcher at MIT. "The next frontier isn’t more AI capability—it’s better human-AI collaboration architecture."

The Reddit thread has since been cross-posted to product feedback forums for OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google AI, with some users creating mockups of proposed folder interfaces. One popular suggestion includes color-coded tags, nested subfolders, and AI-assisted auto-categorization based on content analysis. "Imagine if your AI assistant could say, 'You’ve created eight projects related to CRISPR gene editing—would you like me to group them under a 'Biotech' folder?'", one user proposed.

While no official response has been issued by major AI providers, the momentum is building. In a recent interview with TechCrunch, an unnamed product lead at OpenAI acknowledged the feedback as "highly valid" and noted that "user-driven organization structures" are under active internal review. "We’re not just building tools—we’re building digital ecosystems," the lead said. "If users are managing 20+ projects, they need more than prompts. They need structure."

For now, users continue to rely on workarounds—copy-pasting prompts into external trackers, renaming files with prefixes like "[BIOTECH]_CRISPR_v3," and manually archiving conversations. But as AI becomes indispensable, the expectation for intuitive, scalable organization is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity.

As the digital landscape evolves, the line between tool and workspace blurs. The request for a simple folder may seem trivial—but it’s a symptom of a larger transformation: the need to treat AI not as a black box, but as a collaborator in a structured, sustainable workflow.