{
  "id": 18727721,
  "title": "Prior expertise may determine whether AI builds skills or substitutes for them, field experiment suggests",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/prior-expertise-may-determine-whether-ai-builds-skills-or-substitutes",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-07T14:00:20.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/prior-expertise-may-determine-whether-ai-builds-skills-or-substitutes-for-them-field-experiment-suggests/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent experiment involving 133 U.S. patent lawyers suggests that the impact of AI writing assistants on professional work may depend on the individual's prior experience. While junior lawyers experienced an improvement in the quality of their patent drafts when using AI assistance, senior lawyers who had previously used the tool outperformed those without AI access when completing a similar task without assistance. However, junior lawyers who had utilized AI did not show a significant advantage in subsequent tasks. This finding, published as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, raises questions about whether AI's benefits translate to independent expert judgment and whether reliance on AI hinders the development of essential skills.",
  "summary": "Does using AI on the job build expertise or erode it? A field experiment with patent lawyers suggests the answer may depend on how much expertise people bring to the tool in the first place.",
  "key_points": [
    "Prior experience influences AI's impact on professional work",
    "Junior lawyers improve with AI assistance, senior lawyers excel with prior AI use",
    "Junior AI users show no significant advantage in subsequent tasks"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}