# The Cybernetic Teammate **Author:** Ethan Mollick **Published:** 22 March 2025 **Length:** 5 mins (1,300 words) ## In Summary Ethan Mollick reports findings from a randomised experiment involving 776 Procter & Gamble professionals exploring AI's effects on teamwork. Individuals using AI matched the performance of human teams without AI, while AI-supported teams were more likely to produce exceptional solutions. Participants also worked faster, crossed traditional boundaries between technical and commercial expertise, and reported more positive experiences. Mollick argues that AI should be understood not simply as a productivity tool but as a potential teammate capable of reshaping organisational collaboration. **Source:** [https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-cybernetic-teammate](https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-cybernetic-teammate) ## What might this mean for us? How might Higher Education rethink collaboration when AI can provide some benefits traditionally associated with teamwork? Electric Dreams' discipline-led workshops and emerging agent trials offer opportunities to explore this question. Could AI extend participation across disciplinary boundaries while preserving the social, interpretive and developmental value of working with others? What forms of collective judgement remain essential? ## Links in this reading - [The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise, SSRN](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5188231) - [Digital Data Design Institute, Harvard](https://d3.harvard.edu/) - [Experimental evidence on AI and consulting work, Harvard Business School](https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/24-013_d9b45b68-9e74-42d6-a1c6-c72fb70c7282.pdf) - [Research on generative AI use and complex problem-solving, arXiv](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.04761)