AI increases work productivity and creativity according to study
More than half of all German employees surveyed use ChatGPT in their day-to-day work - according to an AI study by Macaw. AI tools are seen as a booster in everyday work, leading to higher work output, improving work processes and ensuring a more creative working environment.
The results of the study show that the majority of respondents in companies and institutions have a positive attitude toward the topic of AI. Two-thirds of the respondents agreed with the statement that they are aware of the possible uses of AI tools. In addition, the majority of respondents confirmed that their employer allows the professional use of AI tools (64 percent), informs the workforce about them (55 percent) and has established guidelines for their use (50 percent).
AI is already part of everyday working life
The most commonly used tools include translation services such as Google Translate (77 percent), chatbots such as ChatGPT (56 percent), and grammar checking solutions such as Grammerly (30 percent). Less common are tools for content creation, images and videos, and 3D modeling, used by only one in four respondents.
Gender differences within the respondent group are minimal, with only the image generation tool Midjourney (12 percentage point difference) and ChatGPT (9 percentage point difference) being used more frequently by males than females and diverse professionals.
As company size increases, so does the use of AI tools. The proportion of employees who do not use AI tools is highest across all tools in very small companies (fewer than 10 employees and annual revenue of no more than 2 million euros). For example, ChatGPT is used more than twice as often by employees of small and medium-sized companies than by micro companies (64 percent versus 25 percent).
AI is a generational issue
There are clear age differences in the use of AI tools. The younger the respondents are, the more frequently they state that they use AI tools in their everyday work. This is particularly significant among 22- to 29-year-olds, who are on average more than three times as likely to use AI tools as those over 50 (for example, Bard: 32 percent to 10 percent and Grammerly: 55 percent to 4 percent). The 22- to 29-year-olds are the leading age group in the survey for tool use.
It also shows that the shorter the tools have been on the market, the more pronounced the age effects. While established tools such as Google Translate are used intensively in all age groups, new tools for content, image and video generation as well as 3D modeling are used significantly more frequently by younger employees and have not yet become part of everyday working life for those over 50 (around 80 percent deny use).
AI as a booster for labor productivity
According to the study, when employees use AI tools in their daily work, it improves work output, work processes and the work environment. Respondents confirmed that using AI tools has changed the quantity (54 percent), quality (51 percent) and time (62 percent) spent on work output. Only one-fifth of respondents said AI tools have had no impact on how they handle (20 percent), collect (17 percent) and use information. For the majority of respondents, AI also improves the creative potential of the work environment.
However, the accuracy and transparency of the output are often doubted. For example, 47 percent see it as a disadvantage that the quality of the information cannot be reliably assessed and 46 percent that the sources are not known. Only 9 percent state that they always believe information from chatbots to be the truth. 45 percent see the problem with AI models that the answers generated depend on the input data. Almost one in three expressed ethical concerns and are unsure whether AI systems comply with the law.
"AI has become part of everyday business life, enabling real improvements in work processes and productivity," explains David Hefendehl, Business Consultant at Macaw. "However, it is also becoming apparent that there are doubts about the quality and transparency of the information generated by AI. These doubts can be removed if companies use chatbots that have been developed for their purposes and trained with internal company data."
In the study carried out in Germany Macaw study 212 people from IT, finance, science, logistics and the public sector participated.
