How AI can Boost Team Productivity

It's well understood that AI has the ability to impact individual productivity. But most critical work is done in teams. What's AI role within a team? A new HBS paper studies how AI acting as a Teammate impacts knowledge work. The study tracked hundreds of professionals (business & technical) at P&G and analyzed the impact of using AI on individuals and teams measured by time savings and output. (Link to paper in comments) * Big Takeaway: AI often functions as more of a teammate than a tool, democratizing expertise, improving quality of output, and even improving emotional experiences. * Big Productivity Gains:  Individuals and Teams using GPT-4 completed tasks 12-16% faster and produced work 0.37-0.39 standard deviations higher in quality.   * Blurring Expertise Boundaries: AI helped both R&D and Business specialists produce balanced technical and commercial solutions, erasing traditional knowledge silos.    * AI as a Teammate Equivalent: Individuals using AI performed on par with two-person teams without AI, demonstrating the AI as a teammate concept is real. * AI Teammates + Human Teammates Work Best: Teams using AI were significantly more likely to produce top-tier solutions, suggesting that there is extra value in having human teams working on a problem + AI. * Enhanced Emotional Experience: Participants using AI reported significantly more positive emotions (excitement, energy) and fewer negative emotions (anxiety, frustration). The author (Ethan Mollick) provides prescient guidance to companies:  “To successfully use AI, organizations will need to change their analogies. Our findings suggest AI sometimes functions more like a teammate than a tool. While not human, it replicates core benefits of teamwork—improved performance, expertise sharing, and positive emotional experiences.” AI founders would do well to remember AI should be more than a tool and seek to be a teammate.

AI isn't just a tool; it's becoming a teammate. A major field experiment with 776 professionals at Procter & Gamble, led by researchers from Harvard, Wharton, and Warwick, revealed something remarkable: Generative AI can replicate and even outperform human teamwork. Read the recently published paper here: In a real-world new product development challenge, professionals were assigned to one of four conditions: 1. Control Individuals without AI 2. Human Team R&D + Commercial without AI (+0.24 SD) 3. Individual + AI Working alone with GPT-4 (+0.37 SD) 4. AI-Augmented Team Human team + GPT-4 (+0.39 SD) Key findings: ⭐ Individuals with AI matched the output quality of traditional teams, with 16% less time spent. ⭐ AI helped non-experts perform like seasoned product developers. ⭐ It flattened functional silos: R&D and Commercial employees produced more balanced, cross-functional solutions. ⭐ It made work feel better: AI users reported higher excitement and energy and lower anxiety, even more so than many working in human-only teams. What does this mean for organizations? 💡 Rethink team structures. One AI-empowered individual can do the work of two and do it faster. 💡 Democratize expertise. AI is a boundary-spanning engine that reduces reliance on deep specialization. 💡 Invest in AI fluency. Prompting and AI collaboration skills are the new competitive edge. 💡 Double down on innovation. AI + team = highest chance of top-tier breakthrough ideas. This is not just productivity software. This is a redefinition of how work happens. AI is no longer the intern or the assistant. It’s showing up as a cybernetic teammate, enhancing performance, dissolving silos, and lifting morale. The future of work isn’t human vs. AI. The next step is human + AI + new ways of collaborating. Are you ready?

In our new paper we ran an experiment at Procter and Gamble with 776 experienced professionals solving real business problems. We found that individuals randomly assiged to use AI did as well as a team of two without AI. And AI-augmented teams produced more exceptional solutions. The teams using AI were happier as well. Even more interesting: AI broke down professional silos. R&D people with AI produced more commercial work and commercial people with AI had more technical solutions. The standard model of "AI as productivity tool" may be too limiting. Today’s AI can function as a kind of teammate, offering better performance, expertise sharing, and even positive emotional experiences. This was a massive team effort with work led by Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Charles Ayoubi, and Karim Lakhani along with Hila Lifshitz, Raffaella Sadun, Lilach M., me and our partners at P&G: Yi Han, Jeff Goldman, Hari Nair and Stewart Taub Subatack about the work here: https://lnkd.in/ehJr8CxM Paper: https://lnkd.in/e-ZGZmW9

New research from Harvard Business School explores a big question: What if AI isn’t just a tool but a teammate? In a large-scale field experiment with Procter & Gamble, researchers tested how GPT-4 affected performance when used by individuals versus teams of experienced professionals working on real product development challenges. Some key findings: - AI-enabled individuals performed as well as teams without AI - Teams using AI produced the best and most exceptional results overall — not only did they outperform others, but they were significantly more likely to generate top 10% solutions - AI helped bridge expertise gaps and broke down professional silos - Participants using AI had better emotional experiences — more excitement, less frustration The takeaway? AI isn't just about individual productivity — it’s reshaping how we collaborate, think, and solve complex problems. It’s acting more like a cybernetic teammate, not just a more efficient tool. The working paper — “The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise” — is worth a read. As someone interested in the future of work, this raises important questions: 1. How do we design teams when AI levels the playing field? 2. What happens to traditional boundaries between roles? 3. How do we rethink collaboration when AI enhances both performance and emotional engagement? Curious what you all think — especially if you’re leading teams or exploring how to integrate AI meaningfully into your org. #FutureOfWork #LinkedInWorkplace #LinkedInLife #WorkplaceResearch

I've been deeply inspired by new research from my brilliant colleagues and friends Karim Lakhani and Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, alongside Ethan Mollick at Wharton, P&G, and others: The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise. This work gets to the heart of something I’ve been exploring for years—the blurring boundaries between disciplines and the potential for technology to unlock new forms of human creativity and collaboration. What’s so powerful here is not just the scale of impact AI is having, but the shape of that impact. A couple of charts from the study really hit home: Performance Distribution Teams using AI were three times more likely to deliver top 10% solutions. Let that sink in. We’re not just talking about incremental improvement—we’re seeing a fundamental shift in the curve. The whole distribution moves up. Expertise Equalization Perhaps even more profound—individuals (even novices) using AI were able to match or outperform seasoned experts. The old silos between technical and commercial capabilities? Gone. AI is flattening hierarchies and expanding what’s possible for everyone. But it’s not just about outcomes—it’s about experience. Participants reported more excitement, less anxiety, and stronger emotional connection with their work. That matters. A few takeaways that stood out: - Teams with AI were three times more likely to reach top-tier results - Individuals using AI matched team performance at 16% faster speed - Silos between specialties dissolved—more integrated, well-rounded solutions - Emotional boost: higher excitement, lower stress For me, the big idea here is the democratization of expertise. This is about more than automation—it’s about amplification. It’s about empowering people, regardless of where they sit on the org chart, to contribute meaningfully in ways they couldn’t before.   It’s exciting to see this kind of validation for the themes we’ve been working on for decades: open talent, distributed innovation, and the power of creative collaboration. This isn’t just the future of work—it’s already happening. Here's a link to the paper: https://lnkd.in/g3KiQuw4

Did you know that an employee using AI might outperform an entire team not using AI? That's a big idea and is based on new research from Harvard Business School titled “The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise”. The paper is worth reading in full but sharing my three takeaways here:   1. Digital labor is real: AI can help one person achieve what used to take two people and is like having a supercharged teammate [see the graph below]. Yellow is an individual with AI while blue is a team with no AI. 2. AI bridges knowledge gaps and elevates performance: AI empowers less experienced employees to perform at levels comparable to teams with experienced members, bridging functional knowledge gaps. 3. AI can change how work is organized: AI is now used for critical thinking and complex problem solving, not just routine tasks. This evolution suggests that the way we think about and organize work will chnage rapidly.   How do you envision AI and digital labor affecting teamwork in your organization?   https://lnkd.in/ex2W2zjV