Case Studies of How Generative Artificial
Intelligence is Changing Work
March 27, 2025
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is a new technology that can generate new code, text, images,
and other content based on machine learning systems and can be trained using large quantities of previous
content. During the 118
th
Congress, there were multiple congressional hearings on how GenAI
technology may affect work and workers.
GenAI became widely available only recently, and there are few case studies documenting how it is
already changing the experience of work. This Insight summarizes three such case studies identified by
CRS. In each of these studies, a new GenAI tool was intentionally rolled out to some workers before
others so that researchers could compare workers who had access to the tool with similar workers who did
not yet have access.
In two of these studies, GenAI tools boosted job performance more for less experienced software
developers and customer service agents, while in the third study a GenAI tool boosted performance more
for scientists who were already more productive. These differences in findings are likely due to
differences in the GenAI tools studied. They highlight how much is still unknown about which workers
will be most affected by GenAI technology.
AI-Based Coding Assistance for Software Developers
In The Effects of Generative AI on High Skilled Work: Evidence from Three Field Experiments with
Software Developers, Kevin Zheyuan Cui et al. describe the rollout of GitHub CoPilot to thousands of
software developers at Microsoft in 2022, and to Accenture and an anonymous large electronics
manufacturing company in 2023. GitHub CoPilot is a GenAI tool that makes suggestions of code and
code documentation. Not every software developer given early access to the tool used it—between 60%
and 70% of people who had early access tried it during the study period. Overall, those who had early
access to GitHub CoPilot completed more coding tasks and completed them more successfully than their
peers without early access. Among Microsoft software developers, the likelihood of trying the tool, the
likelihood of continuing to use the tool after trying it, and the gains from tool access on productivity were
all larger for more recent hires.
