AI makes us busier and more productive, big study finds
A big study found that bringing AI into the workplace makes people busier and boosts productivity, even though the average workday is a little shorter.
Researchers tracked more than 443 million hours across 1,111 organizations and 163,638 employees.
In a before/after analysis of a subset of users (180 days, 10,584 users across 376 companies), time increased across every measured work category (e.g., email, chat, business management); this result applies to those measured categories within the subset, not necessarily every job type across the full dataset.
Email use increased by 104%
In a before/after analysis of users who adopted AI, email use increased 104%, chat and messaging increased 145%, and business management activity increased 94%.
While people now spend slightly less time at work each day (down to about 8 hours and 44 minutes), their productive hours actually increased by 5%.
Focused sessions dropped by 9%
The catch? Employees' focused sessions dropped by 9%, now averaging just over 13 minutes, and overall focus efficiency fell to a three-year low of 60%.
Only 3% of workers hit peak productivity using AI for 7% to 10% of their time; most used it much less.
AI adoption soared to 80%
AI adoption soared to 80% (up from about 53% two years ago), coinciding with healthier work patterns for many and a drop in burnout risk.
Still, nearly one in four employees are at risk of disengagement (23%), so while things are getting done faster, not everyone's feeling great about it.