A pre-registered three-month randomized controlled trial with 133 patent lawyers at eleven U.S. IP law firms found that AI drafting assistance significantly improved the quality of AI-assisted patent drafts at 10 and 90 days, with larger gains for junior lawyers. However, on an unassisted redlining task measuring professional judgment, treated lawyers outperformed controls by 0.32 SD, an effect driven entirely by seniors; juniors showed no average gain and their scores bifurcated into more poor and more good outcomes, with fewer mediocre ones. The findings indicate a trade-off between immediate productivity and durable skill acquisition, suggesting foundational expertise may be a prerequisite for converting AI assistance into lasting learning.
130 other tracked developments touching the same claims.