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Generative AI at Work

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Brynjolfsson
  • Danielle Li
  • Lindsey Raymond
Abstract
We study the staggered introduction of a generative AI-based conversational assistant using data from 5,172 customer support agents. Access to AI assistance increases worker productivity, as measured by issues resolved per hour, by 15\% on average, with substantial heterogeneity across workers. Less experienced and lower-skilled workers improve both the speed and quality of their output while the most experienced and highest-skilled workers see small gains in speed and small declines in quality. We also find evidence that AI assistance facilitates worker learning and improves English fluency, particularly among international agents. While AI systems improve with more training data, we find that the gains from AI adoption are largest for relatively rare problems, where human agents have less baseline training and experience. Finally, we provide evidence that AI assistance improves the experience of work along two key dimensions: customers are more polite and less likely to ask to speak to a manager.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Brynjolfsson & Danielle Li & Lindsey Raymond, 2023. "Generative AI at Work," Papers 2304.11771, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2304.11771
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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