Open AI published a new data set to illustrate how its AI tools including ChatGPT are improving productivity at work-from lawyers to teachers and customer support agents in several ways.
A newly published report highlights the use of ChatGPT among U. S. adults for work increased from 8% early in the year to 28% currently. Some common examples of such usage include learning or developing one’s skills (20%), writing or communicating (18%), programming/data science (7%), as well as creative ideation, business analysis, and translation. For those developing custom solutions, many have started exploring how to use AI in an app to streamline internal workflows or create AI-powered products for clients.
One of the economic analyses from OpenAI shows that teachers save an average of almost six hours of time per week on essential tasks such as lesson planning and grading, which corresponds to about six additional weeks of teaching in a year. In Pennsylvania state employees, save on average 95 minutes daily performing administrative work. In addition, the productivity of lawyers and consultants ranges from 34 to 240% depending on the complexity of writing.
Customer support agents work around 14% more productively with AI help, with the biggest impacts seen for less-skilled workers. This is in line with a much wider trend where AI is helping front-end as well as supporting functions across industries, and this trend is observable with the advent of voice technologies, like Meta’s acquisition of Play AI.
According to Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s Chief Product Officer, ChatGPT has gotten better at coding, and engineers at OpenAI are working faster, thus establishing a virtuous cycle. Such a strategic endeavor is underscored by the company’s $3 billion acquisition of WindSurf earlier this year.
Academic studies back this: GitHub Copilot users completed programming tasks in 56% less time, while users of Microsoft’s M365 Copilot saved about 30 minutes every week on emails and completed writing documents 12% faster. However, experts caution that gains in productivity may vary along the lines of the role and level of experience. Certain developers note no significant gains in speed, while others worry about the consequences of AI for jobs in the long run.
OpenAI’s economic study also reveals that over half a billion people now use the tools, sending 2.5 billion messages per day, among which 330 million are sent from the U.S. alone. With a meteoric rise in AI usage, traditional tech companies, too, have been in a whirlwind expansion, such as the xAI GPU, which is in line for a huge expansion for future AI compute.
OpenAI entered a year-long research program with economists from Georgetown and Harvard to assess AI’s economy-wide ramifications for employment and economic growth. The company is also moving towards more integration with everyday things, amidst news of an AI browser that could change the way we search, surf, and interact online.
OpenAI highlights its goal of democratizing access, keeping human oversight at its core, and guiding AI’s economic impact in collaboration with workers and policymakers.
