We present evidence on how generative AI changes the work patterns of knowledge workers using data from a 6-month-long, cross-industry, randomized field experiment. Half of the 6,000 workers in the study received access to a generative AI tool integrated into the applications they already used for emails, document creation, and meetings. We find that access to the AI tool during the first year of its release primarily impacted behaviors that could be changed independently and not behaviors that required coordination to change: workers who used the tool spent 3 fewer hours, or 25% less time on email each week (intent to treat estimate is 1.4 hours) and seemed to complete documents moderately faster, but did not significantly change time spent in meetings.
That is from a new paper by Eleanor Wiske Dillon, Sonia Jaffe, Nicole Immorlica, and Christopher Stanton, via the excellent Kevin Lewis. In the early stages of strong AI, a lot of the gains will come in the form of time savings. For instance, I can complete many research tasks more quickly, but it does not improve the quality of the final product, which is still bounded by my talent, not the capabilities of the AI. This will make it hard to see or estimate the gains from AI. Let’s say it saves each of us forty minutes a day — is that a big or a small gain? What exactly will be do with that time? Just work more? Is it value well-measured by prevailing wage rates?
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