Tailored AI agents improve work output—at a social cost
Personalised AI agents tailored to worker personalities deliver better results, according to MIT study.
AI agents can significantly improve workplace productivity when tailored to individual personality types, according to new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). However, the study also found that increased efficiency may come at the expense of human social interaction.
Led by Professor Sinan Aral and postdoctoral associate Harang Ju from MIT Sloan School of Management, the research revealed that human workers collaborating with AI agents completed tasks 60% more efficiently. This gain was partly attributed to a 23% reduction in social messages between team members.
The findings come amid a surge in the adoption of AI agents. A recent PwC survey found that 79% of senior executives had implemented AI agents in their organisations, with 66% reporting productivity gains. Agents are used in roles ranging from customer support to executive assistance and data analysis.
Aral and Ju developed a platform called Pairit (formerly MindMeld) to examine how AI affects team dynamics. In one of their experiments, over 2,000 participants were randomly assigned to human-only teams or teams mixed with AI agents. The groups were tasked with creating advertisements for a think tank.
Teams that included AI agents produced more content and higher-quality ad copy, but their human members communicated less, especially regarding emotional and rapport-building messages.
The study also highlighted the importance of matching AI traits to human personalities. For example, conscientious humans worked more effectively with open AI agents, whereas extroverted humans underperformed when paired with highly conscientious AI counterparts.
‘AI traits can complement human personalities to enhance collaboration,’ the researchers noted. However, they stressed that the same AI assistant may not suit everyone.
The insight underpins the launch of their new venture, Pairium AI, which aims to develop agentic AI that adapts to individual work styles. The company promotes its mission as ‘personalising the Agentic Age.’
Ju emphasised the importance of compatibility: ‘You don’t work the same way with all colleagues—AI should adapt in the same way.’
Devanshu Mehrotra, an analyst at Gartner, described the research as groundbreaking. ‘This opens the door to a much deeper conversation about the hyper-customisation of AI in the workplace.’
Looking ahead, Aral and Ju plan to explore how personalised AI can assist in negotiations, customer support, creative writing and coding tasks. Their findings suggest fitting AI to the user may become as critical as managing human team dynamics.
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