Aidan Toner-Rodgers†
MIT
November 6, 2024

This paper examines AI’s impact on innovation by introducing a new materials discovery technology to 1,018 scientists. AI-assisted researchers discovered 44% more materials, leading to a 39% increase in patent filings and a 17% rise in product innovation. These new compounds are more novel and result in more radical inventions. However, the benefits are uneven: while top scientists nearly double their output, the bottom third see little gain. AI automates 57% of “idea-generation” tasks, reallocating researchers to evaluate AI-generated candidates. Top scientists effectively prioritize promising suggestions using their expertise, while others waste resources on false positives. Despite demonstrating the potential of AI-augmented research and highlighting the synergy between algorithms and human expertise, 82% of scientists report reduced job satisfaction due to decreased creativity and underutilized skills.

https://aidantr.github.io/files/AI_innovation.pdf