"AI tools don't always boost productivity. A recent study from Model Evaluation and Threat Research found that when 16 software developers were asked to perform tasks using AI tools, the they took longer than when they weren't using the technology, despite their expectations AI would boost productivity. The research challenges the dominant narrative of AI driving a workplace efficiency boost."
"It's like a new telling of the "Tortoise and the Hare": A group of experienced software engineers entered into an experiment where they were tasked with completing some of their work with the help of AI tools. Thinking like the speedy hare, the developers expected AI to expedite their work and increase productivity. Instead, the technology slowed them down more. The AI-free tortoise approach, in the context of the experiment, would have been faster."
"The researchers enlisted 16 software developers, who had an average of five years of experience, to conduct 246 tasks, each one a part of projects on which they were already working. For half the tasks, the developers were allowed to use AI tools-most of them selected code editor Cursor Pro or Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet-and for the other half, the developers conducted the tasks on their own."
Sixteen software developers with an average of five years of experience completed 246 tasks drawn from projects they were already working on. For half of the tasks developers could use AI tools (mostly Cursor Pro or Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet) and for half they worked without AI. Developers predicted AI would reduce task completion time by about 24% on average. Tasks performed with AI took 19% longer than tasks without AI. The observed results challenge the expectation that AI tools automatically deliver workplace productivity gains.
Read at Fortune
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