Artificial intelligence is changing the way organizations operate in numerous ways, including by enhancing customer service, streamlining operations, and learning more about consumers’ habits and preferences.

Companies can use machine learning algorithms to perform massive data analyses, automate repetitive tasks, and base choices on empirical evidence. Chatbots powered by AI are helping businesses serve customers around the clock, while AI-based predictive maintenance has cut down on costly equipment breakdowns.

Artificial Intelligence Helps Employees Excel At The Workplace

Researchers from Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that customer service employees at a Fortune 500 software company who had access to generative AI tools were, on average, 14% more productive than those who did not.

This research, as reported by Bloomberg, was carried out over the span of 12 months, marking the first time that the influence of AI tools on the workplace has been measured outside of a laboratory.

Customer service workers at a Fortune 500 firm who were given access to generative AI tools became 14% more productive https://t.co/kCi3b4TmZ6

— Bloomberg (@business) April 24, 2023

Generative AI is an AI system that can generate content based on human input. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was launched to the public in November 2022, and it had 1 million users within five days. As a result, several firms and software apps are promoting their own generative AI capabilities, democratizing the power of AI.

While previous research has compared the performance of large language models against tasks in disciplines such as law and medicine, the Stanford and MIT studies examined the effect of generative AI tools on company productivity.

Some of these earlier experiments demonstrated the potential of large-language models in the workplace, but their impact had been largely theoretical until now.

ChatGPT Changing How The Workplace Operates

The research project monitored the performance of more than 5,000 customer support agents, predominantly located in the Philippines, based on metrics such as how quickly and effectively workers were able to resolve client issues.

Artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT were trained on a large corpus of successful customer service interactions. The report did not disclose the identity of the company that specializes in enterprise software for small and medium-sized businesses in the United States.

The research suggests that the increase in the productivity and performance of low-skilled workers may be attributable, in part, to the capacity of AI tools to absorb the tacit knowledge that enables the company’s best performers to excel.

Through AI-generated suggested responses, the AI tools can then disseminate this information to less-skilled or less-experienced employees.

The study discovered that the technology benefited novice workers the most. With the assistance of AI, the least-skilled employees of the company were able to complete their work 35% quicker.

The performance of new employees improved much more swiftly with AI than without it. AI-assisted agents with only two months of experience outperformed agents with over six months of experience in multiple ways.

Artificial Intelligence: A ‘Game-Changer’

Erik Brynjolfsson, co-author of the study and director of the Digital Economy Lab at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, stated that the average productivity increases were approximately 14%, which is less than in previous experiments.

This is likely due to the complexity of real-world workplace processes compared to isolated duties. Nevertheless, the productivity increase was significant.

The research indicates that automation may not always be detrimental to low-skilled employees, as was previously believed. Instead, AI tools can be used to assist less-skilled employees become more proficient and to disseminate the knowledge of top performers throughout an organization.

While productivity gains in the actual world were less dramatic, the potential of large-language models in the workplace is becoming more apparent.

In a recent report by Forbes, citing a Salesforce study, 57% of top IT execs saw generative AI as a game changer. Despite the fact that one-third of respondents thought it was overhyped, 80% of these skeptics agreed that generative AI might help their organizations improve customer service.

-Featured image from Stanford News – Stanford University