⚙️ Will AI Level the Playing Field or Crown New Kings?

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Author

Jo Lambadjieva
June 07, 2024

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Will AI Level the Playing Field or Crown New Kings?

A growing body of evidence suggests AI is acting as a great equalizer when it comes to professional skills. Numerous studies show AI tools significantly boost the performance of lower-skilled workers while providing smaller gains for those already at the top of their field.

In a recent experiment, Boston Consulting Group consultants in the bottom half for business tasks like analysis and persuasion saw their output quality increase 43% with AI assistance. Meanwhile, top performers only had a 17% improvement, shrinking the performance gap from 22% to 4%.

Similar "leveling" effects have been documented across writing, legal work, entrepreneurship and customer service. When given AI-generated story prompts, lower-creativity writers matched the output of their more creative peers. Law students struggling in their courses equalized with the highest performers by using AI tools.

This closing of skill gaps could have seismic implications. As one CEO testing AI boasted, "We can start hiring [engineers and marketers] out of high school rather than four-year colleges" if AI makes up for conventional training deficiencies.

However, replacing entire skilled workforces is likely an overreaction. AI's strengths are uneven – it elevates performance in some areas while lacking abilities in others. Its purpose is better served as a complementary aid across complex roles, allowing human workers to be more productive rather than obsolete.

The rising tide of AI may not necessarily lift all boats equally. There could be an "escalator" effect where AI increases everyone's skills at a similar rate, maintaining the same performance distribution. Or a "kingmaker" effect could emerge if certain individuals prove exceptionally adept at leveraging AI as a co-pilot in a way most cannot, crowning them the elite in this new era of work.

How companies adapt to this AI-augmented era – utilizing less skilled labor, extracting more output from staff, nurturing "AI whisperers" – has major ramifications for workforce structures, pay scales and the very credentials required for employment.

The choice of whether AI is a leveler creating more uniform competencies, an escalator raising all skill levels together, or a kingmaker minting new performance celebrities, will be made through the strategies of businesses, policymakers, and social forces in the coming years. Intentionality is required to shape how cognitive labor is reconfigured by this transformation.

The Quick Read:

Did You Miss This?

Below are just a couple of examples of the type of content shared at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Hawaii in May.

If you missed it, that’s bad news but:

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