OpenAI released its public Large Language Model (LLM) in November 2022 known by many as Chatbot GPT. Since its release many students, workers and even companies played around with this generative AI tool to find out what the fuzz is all about and what it is capable of. As it turns out the impact of this AI tool is quite groundbreaking as shown by new research performed by the Boston Consultancy group (Dell’Acqua, F. et al, 2023).
Their recently published research paper; “Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality” showed the implications AI had on the performance of consultants doing realistic, complex, and knowledge-intensive tasks (Dell’Acqua, F. et al, 2023).
Their findings were quite substantial and something to keep in mind considering a potential career as a consultant. Their results showed that consultants using Chatbot-GPT 4 outperformed consultants, who did not use the technology, in 18 different realistic consulting tasks (Dell’Acqua, F. et al, 2023). Consultants that use AI were profoundly more productive completing 12.2% more tasks on average. Furthermore, they did it 25.1% quicker, on average, while providing 40% better quality then the control group (Dell’Acqua, F. et al, 2023).
Their research came up with many interesting findings including that it did not matter whether the participants were new or familiar with Chatbot GPT. Each consultant increased their performance along their measurements. The researchers argue that AI can be a skill leveler. The participating consultants who initially scored the worst at the 18 tasks at the beginning performed 43% better at the end of the experiment. The best scoring group saw an increase of 17% (Dell’Acqua, F. et al, 2023).
According to the paper they identified two types of behaviour which reaped the most benefits when using AI. The so called “centaurs” (yes like the mythical half horse/half-human creature) where those consultants that delegating solution-creation activities based on what they thought AI or themselves were the best at. Then they also identified the so called “cyborg” who were the consultants that fully integrated AI into their work by continuously interacting with the Chatbot-GPT (Dell’Acqua, F. et al, 2023).
As the author of this blog post, in my opinion, I see chatbot GPT like Google search. At the beginning of the internet and Google’s search engine (although I was not even born back then but anyways) There were those who understood it, used it, and reaped the benefits. Those who completely missed the internet age or those who refused to use it eventually lagged behind. Imagine writing a thesis with or without the use of internet. I wish the latter group the best of luck.
Dell’Acqua, F., McFowland, E., Mollick, E., Lifshitz-Assaf, H., Kellogg, K. C., Rajendran, S., Krayer, L. J., Candelon, F., & Lakhani, K. R. (2023). Navigating the jagged technological frontier: field experimental evidence of the effects of AI on knowledge worker productivity and quality. Social Science Research Network.
Hi Nout, I found your post very eye opening as it really shows the shear potential of generative AI such as ChatGPT. I have read a lot about ChatGPT’s benefits to students or how people use it to increase their productivity in their daily lives. However, I had not read much about its use in the professional workplace and found the research done by BCG very insightful. It very much shows the similarities with Google and how Google revolutionized information retrieval. I agree with your perspective that the use of ChatGPT is an opportunity to enhance people’s productivity and that everyone can benefit from this. Your post really serves as a reminder not to fall behind. That we need to embrace these technological advancements to stay competitive in today’s constantly evolving professional environment.