Meet Your Cybernetic Teammate: Why Harvard’s P&G Study Proves Elevated Collaborative Intelligence™ Is the Future of Work
The promise of generative AI isn’t that it will replace people—it’s that it will become an indispensable partner. A new Harvard Business School (HBS) working paper written with Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Wharton researchers reminds us that AI isn’t just a productivity tool; used well, it acts like a cybernetic teammate. The field experiment, the largest of its kind, placed 776 P&G professionals into real innovation challenges and compared individuals and teams with and without access to generative AI. The findings are explosive: with the right AI support, a single employee matches the performance of a traditional two‑person team and finishes the work faster – 2025 Harvard Study For executives trying to make sense of the hype, this research offers a clear guidepost—and it aligns exactly with the HI + AI = ECI™ framework featured in our upcoming book Elevated Collaborative Intelligence.
Harvard Research: AI as a True Teammate
A major insight from the study is that AI doesn’t just automate tasks—it amplifies human collaboration. When individuals used AI to tackle product‑innovation problems, their solutions improved by 0.37 standard deviations, matching the quality delivered by two‑person teams without AId3.harvard.edu. Teams using AI improved by 0.39 standard deviations, and both individuals and teams spent roughly 13–16 % less time completing the tasks compared with those without AI. Put simply, a single knowledge worker with AI performed as well as two colleagues working together and finished more quickly.
The experiment also found that AI breaks down functional silos. Without AI, R&D professionals proposed mostly technical solutions while commercial specialists focused on market‑oriented ideas. With AI, those differences disappeared; the distribution of ideas shifted from a bimodal distribution (0.564 coefficient) to a unified one (0.482). Moreover, participants reported higher excitement and reduced anxiety when using AI, experiencing emotional benefits akin to working with a human teammate.
P&G’s blog summarised the outcomes succinctly: AI‑enabled teams were about 12 % faster, and AI’s language interface improved employee moraleP&G Case Study: us.pg.com. The combination of human collaboration and AI produced the best results, demonstrating that the future isn’t about choosing between people and machines—it’s about amplifying both.
Chart 1 – AI’s impact on collaboration
Chart 1: Harvard & P&G field experiment results. Generative AI enables a single employee to match or exceed two‑person teams while saving time. Source: Dell’Acqua et al. (2025)d3.harvard.edu.
Beyond P&G: Additional Evidence for Elevated Collaborative Intelligence
Customer‑Service Study: 15 % Productivity Gain
Harvard’s field experiment is not an outlier. Erik Brynjolfsson, Danielle Li and Lindsey Raymond conducted a study on a generative AI conversational assistant using data from 5,172 customer‑support agentsSource: arxiv.org. They found that access to AI assistance increased worker productivity by an average of 15 %. Less experienced agents improved both the speed and quality of their output, while the most experienced agents saw modest gains in speed and slight declines in quality. AI also facilitated worker learning and improved English fluency. Just as the P&G study showed, generative AI proved to be a true teammate—supporting novices, accelerating learning and improving the work experience.
Wendy’s FreshAI: Fast Food Meets Fast Intelligence
Wendy’s deployment of Fresh AI at drive‑thru windows illustrates how cross‑functional collaboration and AI create enterprise value. In Columbus, Ohio, the fast‑food chain piloted a conversational AI platform that achieved an 86 % autonomous order rate, far beyond industry normscdotimes.com. According to CEO Kirk Tanner, the company saw improvements in order accuracy and efficiency because employees could focus on speed of service and delivering an accurate ordercdotimes.com. Wendy’s is scaling FreshAI to more than 500 restaurantscustomerexperiencedive.com, demonstrating that when AI is designed as a cross‑functional experiment—co‑created by restaurant operators, field managers and technologists—it enhances both the employee and customer experiencecdotimes.com.
Market Momentum: The Generative AI Boom
The business case for adopting AI teammates is bolstered by explosive market growth. Research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates that the generative AI market will soar from USD 21.1 billion in 2025 to USD 97.8 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.9 %Source: mordorintelligence.com. Software today captures about 64 % of the market, but services are projected to expand at a 44.7 % CAGR through 2030. Enterprise adoption is accelerating because 20–40 % of workers already use AI tools in their daily workflows, and early adopters report noticeable reductions in cycle time and error rates. The market projections underscore the urgency: organisations that fail to embrace Elevated Collaborative Intelligence risk being outpaced by more agile competitors.
Chart 2 – Generative AI market growth
Chart 2: The generative‑AI market is forecast to grow from USD 21.1 billion in 2025 to USD 97.8 billion by 2030, a 35.9 % CAGR Source: mordorintelligence.com. Software currently dominates but services and edge solutions are growing rapidly.
Elevated Collaborative Intelligence™: The Formula in Action
The Harvard study validates the core premise of our book: HI + AI = ECI™. Human Intelligence (HI)—creativity, empathy, domain expertise—remains essential. Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhances scale, speed and analytical depth. When combined intentionally, they produce Elevated Collaborative Intelligence (ECI)—a level of performance unattainable by either on its own. In book I explore in great depth what the leading indicators y industry and department with actionable advice to minimize risk and optimize AI for your organization.
Chart 3 – Visualising HI + AI = ECI™
Chart 3: ECI emerges at the intersection of human insight and machine intelligence. The research demonstrates that AI can replicate key benefits of teamwork and democratize expertise (preview chapter 2 HI + AI = ECI by Carsten Krause) while humans provide judgement, creativity and ethical grounding.
The Roadmap: From Pilots to Enterprise Value
Achieving ECI requires more than technology adoption. Our CDO TIMES feature “From AI Pilots to Enterprise Value: A CDO’s Playbook” explains why 80 % of AI pilots die on the vine and how to avoid the graveyard of abandoned proofs‑of‑conceptcdotimes.com. The key is to architect AI solutions around measurable business outcomes, ensure cross‑functional ownership from day one, and treat pilots as stepping stones toward operational scalecdotimes.com. Wendy’s FreshAI pilot is a prime example: its success derived from collaborative design and integrated operationscdotimes.com.
Why Executives Should Care
For HR Leaders: The research dispels fears that AI dehumanizes work. Employees using AI reported greater excitement and less anxiety Source: d3.harvard.edu. AI can be a motivational tool that engages employees by reducing drudgery and providing instant feedback. HR leaders like Maya can reimagine training and performance management around AI‑enhanced coaching and continuous learning.
For Technology Leaders: Breaking down silos isn’t just aspirational—it’s empirically validated. The P&G study shows that AI prompts professionals to produce balanced proposals irrespective of their functional background. Architects like Carlos should integrate AI into their digital‑transformation frameworks and shift from controlling standards to enabling dynamic capability buildingcdotimes.com.
For AI Product Leaders: The research warns against “AI‑first” hype. Without the human component, AI initiatives falter. As our AI‑first critique notes, calling yourself AI‑first because you use Copilot or ChatGPT at lunch is akin to calling yourself a bodybuilder because you once walked past a gymcdotimes.com. Product leaders like Aria should build cross‑functional pods where domain experts, technologists and designers co‑create AI features, ensuring ethical alignment and user trust.
The CDO TIMES Bottom Line
Harvard’s P&G study isn’t just another academic exercise. It demonstrates that generative AI can equal or surpass the benefits of teamwork, foster cross‑functional integration and elevate employee morale. Combined with real‑world success stories like Wendy’s FreshAI and productivity gains in customer‑service centres, the evidence is clear: AI is becoming a cybernetic teammate. But the technology only delivers outsized returns when paired with human leadership, structured collaboration and a roadmap for scaling.
Our HI + AI = ECI™ framework provides that roadmap. It’s not about being “AI‑first”; it’s about being human‑centric and AI‑enabled. Executives who harness Elevated Collaborative Intelligence will outpace competitors, inspire employees and deliver innovations that matter. Those who ignore it risk automating their irrelevance.
If this article resonates, dive deeper into our other ECI pieces, including “From Chaos to Clarity” cdotimes.com and “From AI Pilots to Enterprise Value”cdotimes.com, and pre‑order the book HI + AI = ECI™: Elevated Collaborative Intelligence. For leaders ready to build the future rather than chase it, the time is now to turn AI into your most trusted teammate.
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