Does AI Assistance Enhance or Erode Expertise? Evidence from a Three-Month Field Experiment in Patent Drafting

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Authors: David Autor, Tanya Rodchenko, Josh Martin, Zanna Iscenko, Scott Strand, David Pearl, Melissa Ferere
Venue: MIT Shaping the Future of Work working paper (not peer-reviewed)
Published: 2026-09-01

How to cite it

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APA

Autor, D., Rodchenko, T., Martin, J., Iscenko, Z., Strand, S., Pearl, D., & Ferere, M. (2026). Does AI Assistance Enhance or Erode Expertise? Evidence from a Three-Month Field Experiment in Patent Drafting. MIT Shaping the Future of Work working paper (not peer-reviewed). https://shapingwork.mit.edu/research/does-ai-assistance-enhance-or-erode-expertise-evidence-from-a-three-month-field-experiment-in-patent-drafting/

MLA

Autor, David, et al. "Does AI Assistance Enhance or Erode Expertise? Evidence from a Three-Month Field Experiment in Patent Drafting." MIT Shaping the Future of Work working paper (not peer-reviewed), 2026, https://shapingwork.mit.edu/research/does-ai-assistance-enhance-or-erode-expertise-evidence-from-a-three-month-field-experiment-in-patent-drafting/.

BibTeX

@article{autor2026does,
  title = {Does AI Assistance Enhance or Erode Expertise? Evidence from a Three-Month Field Experiment in Patent Drafting},
  author = {David Autor and Tanya Rodchenko and Josh Martin and Zanna Iscenko and Scott Strand and David Pearl and Melissa Ferere},
  journal = {MIT Shaping the Future of Work working paper (not peer-reviewed)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://shapingwork.mit.edu/research/does-ai-assistance-enhance-or-erode-expertise-evidence-from-a-three-month-field-experiment-in-patent-drafting/},
}

What it is

Working paper (September 2026) from the MIT Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. In a pre-registered randomized trial with 133 practicing patent lawyers at 11 U.S. law firms, AI drafting help raised work quality, with larger gains for junior lawyers; on a later task done without AI, the advantage appeared only among senior lawyers. Not peer-reviewed.

Topics

#ai-and-jobs #expertise #field-experiment #legal-profession #working-paper

Added Oct 7, 2026 · 0 opens