Study finding reported that experts adopted AI agent arguments as their own and shifted previously held positions
FollowingDay 72 sourcesupdated 29 Oct 2026
Studies Conflict on AI's Effects on Worker Productivity and Thinking
The gist
The studies show AI tools can slow experienced workers on familiar tasks and may reduce independent critical thinking, while also shifting how work is done rather than uniformly reducing it. The findings on expert judgment raise questions about how much professionals maintain independent positions when working alongside AI agents.
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The full picture
Several recent studies produce divergent findings on how AI tools affect worker output and cognition. A randomized METR study found that experienced developers working on familiar codebases took 19% longer to complete tasks when using early-2025 AI coding tools compared to those not using them. A Microsoft Research survey of 319 knowledge workers found that greater trust in AI correlated with workers reporting less critical-thinking effort. A separate study using a fictional scenario found that experts who used AI agents frequently adopted the agent's arguments verbatim and shifted away from previously held positions in the direction the agent leaned. On the productivity side, an Anthropic internal study found AI agents raised output for employees while shifting human roles toward supervising, reviewing, and coordinating AI work. A Microsoft Research study of roughly 6,000 workers found AI adoption reduced time spent on email while meeting time remained unchanged.
How it developed
Microsoft Research, METR, and Anthropic study findings reported, covering developer slowdowns, reduced critical thinking, and output shifts toward supervision
Sources
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