Research Hit: AI is Worse at Promoting Performance than Humans

Research shows that the same feedback from AI or humans has very different outcomes for employees

First published on my Substack: https://leadingbrainsreview.substack.com/

But surely human beings are much better at managing employees?

Yes, though you could assume that AI might be better in managing people in some circumstances because of lack of bias and being more rational (and at least not being toxic), human beings come out as better just by being human according to this research — and not through better social skills or other factors.

This research by Rachel Schlund and Emily Zitek of Cornell University shows that when employees are given the precise same feedback on their performance that the response, and subsequent performance, is dramatically higher when humans give this feedback.

Oh wow — so how can this be?

The researchers conducted various experiments but in one experiment participants were asked to generate as many ideas as possible for a part of a theme park after being given a presentation, and told they would be monitored by a human or AI. After a short period either the human or “AI” (it wasn’t AI) gave the exact same message that…