The primary benefit of AI for experienced users has evolved from efficiency gains to enabling entirely new tasks and boosting overall throughput. Time savings, once the top benefit, is now third, especially for heavy users focused on strategic value over simple task automation.
Related Insights
A 'value premium' is emerging where users' reported value from AI grows faster than their usage time. Even users with flat usage hours report increasing value, demonstrating that skill development and learning curve payoffs are key drivers of AI ROI, independent of raw hours spent.
Users who treat AI as a collaborator—debating with it, challenging its outputs, and engaging in back-and-forth dialogue—see superior outcomes. This mindset shift produces not just efficiency gains, but also higher quality, more innovative results compared to simply delegating discrete tasks to the AI.
Providing AI licenses isn't enough. Companies must actively manage the transition of employees from basic users (asking simple questions) to advanced users who treat AI as a collaborator for complex, high-value tasks, which is where real ROI is found.
Focusing on AI for cost savings yields incremental gains. The transformative value comes from rethinking entire workflows to drive top-line growth. This is achieved by either delivering a service much faster or by expanding a high-touch service to a vastly larger audience ("do more").
Over 60% of product teams regain 2+ hours daily using AI, but this time is often absorbed by more execution tasks—the "hamster wheel"—rather than being allocated to crucial strategic planning. This is due to organizational demand and the cognitive load of context-switching.
Human intuition is a poor gauge of AI's actual productivity benefits. A study found developers felt significantly sped up by AI coding tools even when objective measurements showed no speed increase. The real value may come from enabling tasks that otherwise wouldn't be attempted, rather than simply accelerating existing workflows.
Most view AI for efficiency, but its true power lies in handling routine tasks to free up human talent. This unlocks capacity for strategic, creative, and relationship-driven work that fuels innovation and growth, shifting the question from cost savings to new capabilities.
AI's value for PMs is augmentation, not replacement. By automating tactical tasks that consume most of a PM's day (e.g., "six out of eight hours"), AI frees up critical capacity for higher-level strategic, creative, and innovative work—the core functions of a product leader.
59% of creatives believe AI's top benefit is making choices bolder. They hope AI can provide real-time feedback and data-driven gut checks, giving them the evidence needed to convince risk-averse stakeholders to approve more daring creative concepts that might otherwise get watered down.
The true ROI of AI isn't just efficiency; it's the opportunity to reallocate time from low-value tasks to uniquely human activities. Use the bandwidth gained to build deeper client relationships, foster community, and engage in creative work.
