While genAI has been shown to boost productivity in tasks like coding, a recent working paper examines how these tools could also reshape the work of the people using them. The study, which focuses on open source software developers, finds that having access to GitHub Copilot, an AI-powered coding assistant, led developers to shift more of their work to coding and away from project management tasks, such as assigning issues to other developers.
Open source software development is a form of distributed work, with developers in different locations contributing to shared projects. The researchers provide evidence that GitHub Copilot enabled key developers on those projects to work more autonomously, decreasing their reliance on other developers.
Though focused on open source software development, the study has implications for knowledge work more broadly. We spoke with Manuel Hoffmann, one of the study’s authors and a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, about what these findings tell us about the future of work and collaboration. Here are excerpts from two different conversations, combined and edited for length and clarity:
