A Harvard-led study has found that using generative AI helped hundreds of consultants working for the respected Boston Consulting Group (BCG) complete a range of tasks more often, more quickly, and at a higher quality than those who did not use AI. Moreover, it showed that the lowest performers among the group had the biggest gains when using generative AI. The study, conducted by data scientists and researchers from Harvard, Wharton, and MIT, is the first significant study of real usage of generative AI in an enterprise since the explosive success of ChatGPT’s pubic release in November 2022 — which triggered a rush among major enterprise companies to figure out optimal ways to utilize it. The researchers moved quickly, starting their research in January of this year, and using GPT-4 for the experiment — which is widely considered the most powerful large language model (LLM). The study carries some significant implications for how businesses should approach deploying it.
