ChatGPT increases productivity by 40% for writing tasks [STUDY]

A new randomized controlled trial by Harvard and Stanford economists finds that ChatGPT can substantially increase the productivity of professionals performing daily typing tasks.

Participants were randomly assigned to realistic work simulations with or without access to ChatGPT.

Those with access to the AI ​​tool completed tasks 40% faster and produced 18% higher quality, according to expert evaluators.

The to study adds nuance to debates about how AI will affect workplaces, finding that ChatGPT is more likely to augment rather than replace human professionals.

ChatGPT Productivity Study

Research by economists Shoji Noy of Harvard University and Zixuan Zhang of Stanford University assigned more than 450 college-educated professionals realistic writing tasks similar to their real work.

Participants included marketers, consultants, data analysts, and other occupations that regularly produce written documents.

The study reveals:

“Workers exposed to ChatGPT during the experiment were twice as likely to report using it in their actual work two weeks after the experiment and 1.6 times more likely two months later.”

ChatGPT bridges the skills gap

The study found that ChatGPT reduced inequality between higher and lower-skilled professionals.

Participants who received lower scores on their first writing task improved more when given access to ChatGPT on their second task than the control group.

The study says:

“In the treatment group, the initial inequalities were more than half erased by the treatment. This reduction in inequality was driven by the fact that participants who scored lower on the first task benefited more from access to ChatGPT.”

ChatGPT is more likely to help humans than replace them

The authors say their results suggest AI tools like ChatGPT are more likely to augment human professionals rather than replace them.

However, they caution that their brief experiment examined a limited range of occupations and incentive structures.

“Relative to our experimental findings, the direct productivity effects of ChatGPT in the real economy will be somewhat lower and the technology will be more strongly complementary to human workers.”

The researchers call for more studies on how productivity gains from AI translate into wages, employment and changes in demand in the wider economy.

Their experiment indicates that advanced AI tools will profoundly affect businesses and labor markets that are difficult to predict.

More details on the study methodology

The study was a randomized controlled trial, considered the gold standard for evaluating interventions. Participants were randomly assigned to have access to ChatGPT or not.

The writing tasks have been designed based on real activities that professionals do at work, such as writing reports, press releases, emails, etc. Participants rated the tasks as realistic.

Output quality was assessed by experienced professionals blinded to the experimental condition. The participants were incentivized for high quality work.

Participants were incentivized with bonus payments based on the quality of their writing, as judged by expert raters blind to the study conditions. On average, participants earned $17 per hour.

conclusion

This randomized trial reveals that ChatGPT can increase productivity. However, the study examined a limited range of occupations and incentives.

As advanced AI spreads throughout the economy, it’s important to continue researching its impacts on wages, employment, inequality, and more.

While technology may augment professionals, the broader economic effects remain complex and difficult to predict.

Featured image: Vitor Miranda/Shutterstock

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