I was reminded this week about a couple of quotes from Ethan Mollick’s blog regarding generative AI at work that match my personal experience:
The first is from March 2025, explaining a randomized controlled trial testing office workers working with AI and without AI. Their conclusion:
This suggests that AI effectively replicated the performance benefits of having a human teammate – one person with AI could match what previously required two-person collaboration.
The second is from 2023 where Mollick discusses the results of an experiment he ran with professional consultants:
Consultants using AI finished 12.2% more tasks on average, completed tasks 25.1% more quickly, and produced 40% higher quality results than those without.
Nuance matters: what AI model you use (use a paid model), what tasks you use it with (text-based office work), and how experienced you are with the models (use it daily!). The conclusion is AI significantly expands, improves, and accelerates average office work. The trick back in 2023–and still today–is to learn how generative AI can improve your specific workflow. The only way to figure that out is using it and testing it yourself.
