This research paper examines the impact of an artificial intelligence tool for materials discovery on the productivity and performance of scientists working in a large U.S. firm's R&D lab. The study exploits a randomized rollout of the AI tool across teams of scientists, allowing the researchers to draw causal inferences about the effects of the technology. The paper demonstrates that the AI tool significantly increases the rate of materials discovery, patent filings, and product innovation, but these benefits are unequally distributed among scientists. The researchers find that the AI tool is most beneficial to scientists with strong judgment skills, which involve the ability to evaluate and prioritize AI-generated candidate compounds. The study also reveals that the AI tool automates a significant portion of idea generation tasks, resulting in a reallocation of scientist labor towards judgment tasks. This reallocation, along with the increased demand for judgment skills, explains the heterogeneous impact of the AI tool on scientific performance.
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This research paper examines the impact of an artificial intelligence tool for materials discovery on the productivity and performance of scientists working in a large U.S. firm's R&D lab. The study exploits a randomized rollout of the AI tool across teams of scientists, allowing the researchers to draw causal inferences about the effects of the technology. The paper demonstrates that the AI tool significantly increases the rate of materials discovery, patent filings, and product innovation, but these benefits are unequally distributed among scientists. The researchers find that the AI tool is most beneficial to scientists with strong judgment skills, which involve the ability to evaluate and prioritize AI-generated candidate compounds. The study also reveals that the AI tool automates a significant portion of idea generation tasks, resulting in a reallocation of scientist labor towards judgment tasks. This reallocation, along with the increased demand for judgment skills, explains the heterogeneous impact of the AI tool on scientific performance.
Ep49. Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation
The Daily ML
9 minutes 37 seconds
11 months ago
Ep49. Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation
This research paper examines the impact of an artificial intelligence tool for materials discovery on the productivity and performance of scientists working in a large U.S. firm's R&D lab. The study exploits a randomized rollout of the AI tool across teams of scientists, allowing the researchers to draw causal inferences about the effects of the technology. The paper demonstrates that the AI tool significantly increases the rate of materials discovery, patent filings, and product innovation, but these benefits are unequally distributed among scientists. The researchers find that the AI tool is most beneficial to scientists with strong judgment skills, which involve the ability to evaluate and prioritize AI-generated candidate compounds. The study also reveals that the AI tool automates a significant portion of idea generation tasks, resulting in a reallocation of scientist labor towards judgment tasks. This reallocation, along with the increased demand for judgment skills, explains the heterogeneous impact of the AI tool on scientific performance.
The Daily ML
This research paper examines the impact of an artificial intelligence tool for materials discovery on the productivity and performance of scientists working in a large U.S. firm's R&D lab. The study exploits a randomized rollout of the AI tool across teams of scientists, allowing the researchers to draw causal inferences about the effects of the technology. The paper demonstrates that the AI tool significantly increases the rate of materials discovery, patent filings, and product innovation, but these benefits are unequally distributed among scientists. The researchers find that the AI tool is most beneficial to scientists with strong judgment skills, which involve the ability to evaluate and prioritize AI-generated candidate compounds. The study also reveals that the AI tool automates a significant portion of idea generation tasks, resulting in a reallocation of scientist labor towards judgment tasks. This reallocation, along with the increased demand for judgment skills, explains the heterogeneous impact of the AI tool on scientific performance.
