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Shifting Work Patterns with Generative AI

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  • Eleanor W. Dillon
  • Sonia Jaffe
  • Nicole Immorlica
  • Christopher T. Stanton

Abstract

We present evidence from a field experiment across 66 firms and 7,137 knowledge workers. Workers were randomly selected to access a generative AI tool integrated into applications they already used at work for email, meetings, and writing. In the second half of the 6-month experiment, the 80% of treated workers who used this tool spent two fewer hours on email each week and reduced their time working outside of regular hours. Apart from these individual time savings, we do not detect shifts in the quantity or composition of workers’ tasks resulting from individual-level AI provision.

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  • Eleanor W. Dillon & Sonia Jaffe & Nicole Immorlica & Christopher T. Stanton, 2025. "Shifting Work Patterns with Generative AI," NBER Working Papers 33795, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33795
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erik Brynjolfsson & Daniel Rock & Chad Syverson, 2021. "The Productivity J-Curve: How Intangibles Complement General Purpose Technologies," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 333-372, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fouarge, Didier & Fregin, Marie-Christine & Janssen, Simon & Levels, Mark & Montizaan, Raymond & Özgül, Pelin & Rounding, Nicholas & Stops, Michael, 2025. "How AI-Augmented Training Improves Worker Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 18224, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Anais Galdin & Jesse Silbert, 2025. "Making Talk Cheap: Generative AI and Labor Market Signaling," Papers 2511.08785, arXiv.org.
    3. David Rothschild, 2025. "Comment on "The Coasean Singularity? Demand, Supply, and Market Design with AI Agents"," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Transformative AI, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics
    • 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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