Generative AI and the temporary upskilling of knowledge workers

Upskilling often refers to the process by which workers acquire and expand their skills, enabling them to perform different types of work as market demands change. Here we demonstrate that generative artificial intelligence can act as an 'exoskeleton', enhancing workers' capabilities when attempting new skills, but these gains depend on continued technology use. We run a randomized controlled trial on upskilling by providing management consultants (N = 487) access and training in using ChatGPT to solve data science tasks outside their skill sets, which cannot be independently solved by ChatGPT. The treated workers scored higher than the control group on three tasks, although we can reject the hypothesis that they performed as well as expert data scientists. We find no evidence that treated workers are better at answering technical questions without ChatGPT post-experiment, suggesting that their demonstrated technical capabilities do not imply knowledge acquisition.