Economists Erik Brynjolfsson, Danielle Li and Lindsey Raymond followed 5,172 customer-service employees, who answer customer questions by chat, while their company introduced an AI assistant step by step. On average, the employees resolved 15 percent more cases per hour. The biggest gains went to the newest employees: they got faster and better. For the most experienced colleagues, little changed.¹

The reason is simple. The tool had learned from the answers of the best employees and passed that know-how on to the newcomers. In a way, it worked like a patient mentor sitting next to every new hire.

Talent Takeaway

It reminds us how valuable our most experienced colleagues are when AI arrives: their know-how is what the tool passes on. A good role for them is to help shape how the tool is used and to show newer colleagues how to use it well.

¹ Brynjolfsson, E., Li, D., & Raymond, L. (2025). Generative AI at work. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 140(2), 889–942. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae044

Further reading: Dell'Acqua, F., et al. (2023). Navigating the jagged technological frontier (Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 24-013). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4573321