What AI Saves
What AI changes in knowledge work, measured in trials and surveys: time saved, writing, customer support, coding, who gains most and when AI makes work worse.
6 facts from 24 studies. See the chapter on one poster.
- F-083–5.4%
How much time does AI save knowledge workers?
Workers who use generative AI say it saves them about 3 to 5.4 percent of their work hours, roughly 1 to 2 hours of a 40-hour week. The one large trial that measured time found users spent 1.4 to 2 fewer hours a week on email, with no measurable change in time in meetings or writing documents.
- F-0925–40%
How much faster do people finish writing tasks with AI, and is the work better?
In controlled experiments, professionals using ChatGPT or GPT-4 finished defined writing and consulting tasks 25 to 40 percent faster, and graders rated the work 18 to 34 percent better. In a six-month field trial of everyday work, time spent writing documents did not change measurably.
- F-1014–15%
How much more do customer support agents get done with AI?
In the largest real-world study, chat agents at a Fortune 500 software firm resolved 14 to 15 percent more issues per hour with an AI assistant, and the least skilled gained 30 to 36 percent. A larger randomized trial at Alibaba found much smaller speed gains, with chats 1 to 8 percent faster.
- F-1121–26%
How much faster do developers code with AI assistants?
Randomized trials inside companies find gains of about 21 to 26 percent. Across all studies the results run from 19 percent slower, for experienced developers in their own mature codebases, to 56 percent faster on one simple lab task, so the evidence conflicts.
- F-1227–46%
Does AI help less-experienced workers more than experienced ones?
Mostly yes, on well-defined tasks: the newest or weakest workers gained about 27 to 46 percent in support, consulting and software studies, against 0 to 17 percent for the strongest. On open-ended business decisions the pattern reversed: in Kenya, strong entrepreneurs gained from an AI adviser while weak ones did nearly 10 percent worse.
- F-1314–25%
When does AI make work slower or worse?
On tasks the AI handles poorly, controlled studies find results 14 to 25 percent worse: consultants using GPT-4 gave fewer correct answers, and experienced developers took 19 percent longer. No study measures how often this happens across all AI-assisted work.