AI · Preregistered randomized controlled laboratory-in-the-field experiment, with realistic consulting tasks and a no-AI, GPT-4, and GPT-4-plus-prompt-engineering condition.
Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality
Organization Science · 2026
Summary
In this study, Within the AI capability frontier, AI users completed 12.2% more tasks, 25.1% faster, with higher quality; on an out-of-frontier managerial task they were 19% less likely to be correct. Founder use: Design AI product analytics around task-level success and verification, not aggregate usage; expose where the model helps and require review where it can degrade decisions.
For your marketing
Possible founder application
Design AI product analytics around task-level success and verification, not aggregate usage; expose where the model helps and require review where it can degrade decisions.
Reported result
What the study found
Within the AI capability frontier, AI users completed 12.2% more tasks, 25.1% faster, with higher quality; on an out-of-frontier managerial task they were 19% less likely to be correct.
Research question
What the authors investigated
When does GPT-4 improve versus degrade the productivity and quality of complex knowledge work?
Design
Preregistered randomized controlled laboratory-in-the-field experiment, with realistic consulting tasks and a no-AI, GPT-4, and GPT-4-plus-prompt-engineering condition.
Sample and setting
758 knowledge workers performing 18 realistic management-consulting tasks developed with Boston Consulting Group, plus a separate out-of-frontier managerial task.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Consulting tasks and GPT-4-era capabilities may not represent other work or later models; task performance is not a direct measure of product adoption, revenue, or organizational learning.
Research sources
Publisher page directly retrieved with Firecrawl; scrape reference 01a1227f-1ac8-74ec-9bba-2a65012e56ec. Claims are limited to the reported article record. Correction notices were not separately checked.