"60% of my day is spent with AI" - Anthropic employees share their thoughts on the future of work in the AI era.
AI company Antropic conducted an interesting survey of 132 of its employees. It explored how people working at companies that create AI are actually using AI and how it's changing the way they work. Amazing productivity gains The most striking result is a dramatic increase in productivity. Just a year ago, employees were using AI in 28% of their tasks and experiencing a productivity increase of around 20%. Now, they use AI in 60% of their tasks and report a 50% increase in productivity. Some power users have even reported productivity increases of over 100%. What's interesting is that while the time spent on each task has decreased slightly, the overall workload has increased significantly. In other words, AI has enabled us to get more done in the same amount of time. What I do, what I leave to AI Employees most commonly use AI for bug fixing (55%) and code understanding (42%). They are particularly inclined to entrust AI with the following tasks: Something that is not complicated but that I am not familiar with Things that make it easy to check the results Repetitive and boring work Code quality isn't that important "The more exciting and fun the task is, the less likely you are to use AI," said one engineer. "But for tasks that feel challenging, it's easier to start by talking to AI." Everyone becomes 'full stack' The most exciting change is that employees are now working beyond their own areas of expertise. Backend developers are creating UIs, security teams are analyzing unfamiliar code, and researchers are creating data visualization tools. "I can now handle front-end, database, and API code," said one backend engineer. "I used to be afraid to touch areas I wasn't an expert in." Employees report that AI has enabled them to tackle small improvement tasks that were previously considered low-priority. Twenty-seven percent of all tasks would not have been completed without AI. But there are also concerns. It's not all good news. Many engineers have concerns: Concerns about a decline in technical skills : Some say, "Because AI provides immediate answers, we have less time to deeply understand how systems work." Developers, particularly those with less experience, worry about losing opportunities to learn skills "the hard way." Reduced interaction with colleagues : With AI becoming the first point of contact for questions, opportunities for collaboration and mentoring with colleagues have diminished. Some people have commented, "I enjoy working with people, but it's sad that they're 'less necessary' now." An uncertain future : "I'm optimistic in the short term, but in the long term, I think AI will do everything and I and many other people will no longer be needed," he confessed. The meaning of coding is changing


