The Effects of Generative AI on Collaboration and Social Networks Among Knowledge Workers

The authors study more than 12,000 knowledge workers for 13 months during a staged rollout of Microsoft Copilot, using behavioral communication data and two quasi-experimental designs.

AI use increased collaboration time and broadened the number of colleagues with whom workers interacted, while concentrating more collaboration in trusted prior relationships. The result counters the simple prediction that generative AI necessarily replaces human interaction.