❤️ AI and Productivity: A Love-Fear Relationship?💔

A Valentine's Day-themed AI and productivity image featuring a heart-shaped clock symbolizing time and efficiency, with scattered chocolates for a sweet touch. Subtle digital circuit lines glow within the clock, representing AI integration. Image generated by DALL·E. — Love it or hate it, AI is reshaping how we use our time. This Valentine's Day, let's talk about the sweet (and sometimes bittersweet) impact of AI on productivity. Image generated by DALL·E

🌹Some people get roses on Valentine's Day. I get data. And this latest AI study shared by Ethan Mollick, Associate Professor at the Wharton School, has my heart skipping a beat.

Ethan Mollick's Linked in Post on Thursday, Feb 13, 2025 — Ethan Mollick's LinkedIn Post on Thursday, Feb 13, 2025

The study, "The Labor Market Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence" surveyed 4,278 people in early December 2024. A random sampling approach was used with a focus on U.S. workers, making this one of the most comprehensive looks at AI's impact on how we work.

This Study Illustrates What's Really Happening with AI at Work?

30.1% of workers (that's nearly 1 in 3!) are using AI tools at work
One-third of those users have made it part of their daily routine

This study looked at workers across all industries, ages, and education levels and how it's saving significant time every day.

AI’s Time Machine: How It Saves You Hours Daily

Imagine having more than an hour back every workday. That's like finding a hidden stash of time chocolate! That's essentially what's happening with AI in the workplace. This isn't just about getting things done faster; it's about fundamentally transforming how we work.

Who’s Really Using AI? The Surprising Adoption Stats

AI adoption isn’t following the usual tech playbook. Typically, new technology starts in predictable circles. Think white, male, and tech-heavy industries—before trickling out to the rest of the workforce. But this study? It shows something revolutionary happening.

I had to ask AI to double-check what I was seeing in the graphic below because I was so surprised.

The Numbers That Challenge Everything We Thought We Knew:

Hispanic workers are leading the charge with a 40% adoption rate
Black workers aren't far behind at 35%
White workers come in at 32%

Usage of Generative AI by different racial demographics as surveyed in The Labor Market Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence — Usage of Generative AI by different racial demographics as surveyed in ***The Labor Market Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence***

This data proves something powerful: AI isn’t just for tech insiders. It's becoming a tool that anyone, in any industry, can use to tackle work challenges

But (and there's always a but)

The results show a gender gap!

38% of men report using AI at work
27.8% of women say the same

While AI might be breaking down some barriers, it's running into others that have long plagued the tech world.

Usage of Generative AI by Gender: Males have the highest mean usage, followed by females and those who prefer not to say, according to survey data.

The Education Factor

It's like having a library card in the digital age. The more education you have, the more likely you are to use AI. So how do we ensure adoption across all education levels?

Graduate degree holders: Nearly 50% are using AI
High school graduates: About 20% are using AI

Generative AI utilization increases with higher education levels, peaking among those with graduate degrees, according to survey data.

AI’s ROI: How It’s Slashing Work Hours and Boosting Productivity

Science & Deep Thinking

Science tasks: from 177 minutes to 35 minutes (Faster Medical Breakthroughs & Life-Saving Research?)
Critical thinking: from 102 minutes to 27 minutes—wait, should we be celebrating that?
- AI is great at speeding things up, but critical thinking isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about depth, reasoning, and reflection. If we’re cutting our deep thinking time by nearly 75%, what does that mean for the quality of decisions?
Complex problem solving: from 122 minutes to 30 minutes

The Human Touch (Yes, AI Helps With That Too!)

Negotiation: from 141 minutes to 29 minutes
Active listening: from 138 minutes to 32 minutes
Speaking: from 123 minutes to 30 minutes

Comparison of Task Time Reduction: A visual representation of task durations before and after process improvements, showcasing efficiency gains across various tasks as a percentage of original time used. Designed by me, however, assisted by AI to build out every row.

When I saw this visual, I did a double take on the time savings on traditionally human-centered tasks like negotiation and active listening. (Figure 11, p. 19). This suggests that AI is not only enhancing technical and analytical work but also playing a role in augmenting communication-based tasks.

Structuring arguments
Preparing talking points
Analyzing sentiment in conversations
Role-playing negotiations
Transcribing calls
Summarizing key points from meetings
Offering instant feedback in real-time discussions.

Real World Impact: From Hours to Minutes

During AI Salon founder, Kyle Shannon's, office hours today, one of the participants, a supply chain manager at a well-known pet supply brand shared two real-life examples.

Safety Incident Reporting:
1. Before AI, investigating a safety incident was a marathon—think 'Lord of the Rings' levels of time commitment. It took three hours of....
  1. Taking pictures
  2. Conducting interviews
  3. Having employees handwrite statements
  4. Manually compiling everything into a report
2. After AI, suddenly that three-hour marathon becomes a 10-15-minute sprint.
  1. Using a custom GPT, employees now leave voice notes that AI automatically transcribes and structures into a formal report in 15 minutes or 10 minutes for experienced managers.
HR transcription tasks for employee feedback boards
1. What used to take an hour of manual transcription now happens in seconds - snap a picture, let AI do its magic, and done.

While AI didn't replace humans in either scenario, it definitely sped up the process significantly.

Why This Matters for Your Business

Now, think about what this means for your workday. The almost 2 and a half hours you used to spend preparing for a negotiation? Now it's a focused 30-minute sprint with AI as your prep team. That two-hour concentration on scientific analysis? You're done before your coffee gets cold.

If AI is giving your employees back a couple of hours a day, that's not just about productivity, it's about satisfaction. It's about having time to think, create, and yes, maybe even leave work early enough to have dinner with family. Would you want to leave a company that gives you that kind of gift?

Employee Retention

When you retain your employees, think of the value. Beyond productivity, AI adoption has the potential to reduce employee turnover, which is an expensive problem for businesses. The cost of replacing an employee includes both direct costs (recruitment, onboarding, training) and indirect costs (lost productivity, decreased morale, and loss of institutional knowledge). Studies estimate that turnover can cost between 30% to 200% of an employee's salary depending on the role and industry.

That’s the heart of ROI right there

It’s why I love doing what I do, helping people see that AI isn’t just some trendy tech, but a practical, time-saving powerhouse. This week, I had the opportunity to bring people together at Modernwell to share knowledge and watch lightbulb moments happen in real-time. I always leave these sessions feeling energized because AI is one of those rare topics that gets people excited once they see its real-world impact.

What about you?

What is your take on this generative AI use study? Does it concern you, or get you excited?

Also, have you noticed anything with your own work? Are you seeing AI dramatically reduce the time that it takes to complete certain tasks? Or are you running into certain scenarios where it's costing you more time than it's saving? Please share your stories so we can support each other and learn together. And also please check out the additional reading with different view points.