Publications
Publications
Shifting Work Patterns with Generative AI
By: Eleanor W. Dillon, Sonia Jaffe, Nicole Immorlica and Christopher T. Stanton
Abstract
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 7,137 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 workers could change independently and not
behaviors that require coordination to change: workers who used the tool in more than half of the
sample weeks spent 3.6 fewer hours, or 31% less time on email each week (intent to treat estimate is
1.3 hours) and completed documents moderately faster, but did not significantly change time
spent in meetings.
Keywords
Citation
Dillon, Eleanor W., Sonia Jaffe, Nicole Immorlica, and Christopher T. Stanton. "Shifting Work Patterns with Generative AI." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 33795, May 2025.