A three-month field experiment involving 133 patent attorneys showed that AI increased their immediate productivity. The largest gains were among junior practitioners.
After disabling AI, the improvement persisted only among senior attorneys. This suggests a possible dependence of the long-term effect on an existing professional base.
For companies, the conclusion is nuanced: AI can rapidly support less experienced staff, but working with the tool does not necessarily become a durable professional skill. The available material is presented by The Decoder and is based on metadata, so details of the experiment require verification.
editorial commentary
Why it matters
Likely consequence — employers will be more careful to distinguish growth in current productivity from real employee learning. The next observable signal will be details of the experimental methodology and results of independent verifications. Substantial uncertainty stems from the fact that only a metadata synopsis of a single source is currently available.