Super Mario Meets AI: Experimental Effects of Automation and Skills on Team Performance and Coordination
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: This article studies the effects of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into teams in a laboratory experiment. We randomly assign automated co-workers into “laboratory firms” who are playing a team-based game on the Nintendo Switch console. We demonstrate that even in a task where AI outperforms humans, automation decreases overall team performance and increases coordination failures. These effects are especially large in the short-term and in low- and medium-skilled teams. Moreover, automation reduces team trust and individual effort provision. Our results support the implication that improving collaborative human-machine teams is key to the positive transformation that AI may bring to organizations.
DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01328
Institutions: Harvard University, Columbia University, Yeshiva University
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4366817574