AI agents win over professionals – but only to do their grunt work, Stanford study finds

AI agents are one of the buzziest trends in Silicon Valley, with tech companies promising big productivity gains for businesses. But do individual workers actually want to use them?

A new study from Stanford University shows the answer may be yes — as long as they automate mundane tasks and don’t encroach too far on human agency.

Also: Don’t be fooled into thinking AI is coming for your job – here’s the truth

Titled “Future of Work with AI Agents,” the study set out to move beyond hype around AI agents to understand how, exactly, these tools can be practically integrated into the day-to-day routines of professionals. While previous studies have investigated the impact of AI agents on specific job categories, like software engineering and IT, the Stanford researchers analyzed individual categories of tasks, allowing them “to better capture the nuanced, open-ended, and contextual nature of real-world work,” they noted in their report.

To that end, the researchers adopted a “worker-centric approach,” interviewing 1,500 professionals about their preferences for adopting AI agents. They also interviewed AI experts to understand the technology’s current realistic applications and limitations.

The study helps to bolster previous research, which has shown that the effects of AI automation will vary widely depending on the nature of the work.

What did the study find?

The survey led to the construction of what the Stanford researchers dubbed the AI Agent Worker Outlook & Readiness Knowledge Bank, or WORKBank, a database reflecting workers’ current views on AI agents.

Also: 10 strategies OpenAI uses to create powerful AI agents – that you should use too

According to the report, the majority of workers are ready to embrace agents for the automation of low-stakes and repetitive tasks, “even after reflecting on potential job loss concerns and work enjoyment.” Respondents said they hoped to focus on more engaging and important tasks, mirroring what’s become something of a marketing mantra among big tech companies pushing AI agents: that these systems will free workers and businesses from drudgery, so they can focus on more meaningful work.

The authors also noted “critical mismatches” between the tasks that AI agents are being deployed to handle — such as software development and business analysis — and the tasks that workers are actually looking to automate.

The future of (AI-assisted) work

The study could have big implications for the future of human-AI collaboration in the workplace. 

Using a metric that they call the Human Agency Scale (HAS), the authors found “that workers generally prefer higher levels of human agency than what experts deem technologically necessary.” In other words, individuals want to retain a certain amount of control over their work even as agents could feasibly automate much of it. The authors said that this could lead to “friction” as AI becomes more powerful and ubiquitous.

Also: How AI can save us from our ‘infinite’ workdays, according to Microsoft

The report further showed that the rise of AI automation is causing a shift in the human skills that are most valued in the workplace: information-processing and analysis skills, the authors said, are becoming less valuable as machines become increasingly competent in these domains, while interpersonal skills — including “assisting and caring for others” — is more important than ever.

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