How AI impacts individuals and teams across Procter and Gamble

The “Cybernetic Teammate” study was conducted in Summer 2024 by a research from Harvard and Wharton, in partnership with Procter & Gamble.

WHO WAS TESTED:

The study involved 776 P-G professionals and replicated P-G’s product development process across four business units.

The experiment featured four distinct conditions:

– Individuals working alone without AI
– Individuals working alone with AI
– Teams of two specialists (one commercial expert, one technical R&D expert) working without AI
– Teams of two specialists working with AI

Key findings

Individual Performance: AI improved individual performance by 37%

Team Performance: AI improved team performance by 39%

Breakthrough Solutions: Teams using AI were 3x more likely to produce solutions in top 10% of quality

Effeciency Gains

• Individuals using AI completed tasks 16.4% faster than those without

Output Quality

• Despite working faster, AI-enabled groups produced substantially longer and more detailed solutions

Expertise and collaboration effects

Breaking Down Silos!!

Without AI: Clear professional silos existed — R&D specialists created technical solutions while Commercial specialists developed market-focused ideas

With AI: Distinctions virtually disappeared — both types of specialists produced balanced solutions integrating technical and commercial perspectives

Experience Leveling: Less experienced employees using AI performed at levels comparable to teams with experienced members

Emotional Experience 

Positive Emotions: AI users reported significantly higher levels of excitement, energy, and enthusiasm

Negative Emotions: AI users experienced less anxiety and frustration during work

Individual Experience: People working alone with AI reported emotional experiences comparable to or better than those in human teams

Team Dynamics

Solution Types: Teams without AI showed a bimodal distribution (either technically or commercially oriented solutions)

Balanced Input: AI appeared to reduce dominance effects, allowing more equal contribution from team members

Consistency: Teams with AI showed more uniform, high-quality outputs compared to the variable results of standard teams

We’ll be talking about this study for a while.

Upskill Your Organization

When your company is ready, we are ready to upskill your workforce at scale. Our Generative AI for Professionals course is tailored to enterprise and highly effective in driving AI adoption through a unique, proven behavioral transformation. Check out our website or shoot me a DM.”

Douglas Flora, Executive Medical Director of Oncology Services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare and ACCC President-Elect, shared this post, adding: