Source note · Independent commentary
The first draft got cheap. Responsibility did not.
It is a clean experiment on exactly the kind of task most people picture when they imagine AI doing their work: a competent first draft, produced quickly.
Research reviewed
Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence
- Authors
- Shakked Noy, Whitney Zhang
- Institution
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Publication
- Science, vol. 381, issue 6654
- Date
- 2023-07
- Type
- Journal article
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.adh2586
A preregistered online experiment in which college-educated professionals completed mid-level writing tasks with or without access to ChatGPT. Access reduced time taken and raised rated quality, and narrowed the gap between weaker and stronger writers.
Read the original sourceWhat the source supports
- On short professional writing tasks, access to the tool reduced average time and raised average rated quality.
- The gap between lower- and higher-performing participants narrowed with the tool.
- Participants' reported concern and excitement about AI both rose after exposure.
What the source does not support
- That the same effects apply to long, high-stakes, or domain-specific work. The tasks were short and general.
- That quality as judged by evaluators equals the quality an experienced professional would be accountable for.
- Anything about what happens to careers, pay, or demand for writers over time.
What Sougata is doing with it
Sougata uses this to describe how a first draft, the visible output, became cheap for a whole class of tasks. The claim that responsibility for the draft did not become cheap is Sougata's interpretation, and the paper does not test it.
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Why it matters here