A study of 5,179 support agents: AI lifted output 14%, and novices gained most
Summary of National Bureau of Economic Research, 2023, later published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (2025)Source read
Researchers tracked 5,179 customer support agents after an AI assistant was introduced. Productivity rose about 14% on average and about 34% for the least experienced staff, who effectively borrowed the habits of the best performers.
- 14%
- average productivity gain across 5,179 agents
- 34%
- gain for the least experienced agents
- 5,179
- agents in the study
What it means for a small firm
The biggest gain went to people with the least experience. For a small firm that means AI is a way to spread your best person's method, which only works if you first write that method down.
Original source
Generative AI at Work (Brynjolfsson, Li, Raymond)
National Bureau of Economic Research
This page is our own summary, written 23 October 2026. The figures belong to the publisher. We checked them against the publisher’s page on the date above.