Ask someone who uses AI at work which jobs they give it, and they can tell you at once. The first draft of an email, yes; the reply to their boss, no. The code for a chart, yes; what the chart should show, no. The list grows one surprise at a time.

Some of the surprises are pleasant: a job you were sure it would botch comes back done, and better than you would have done it. Others are not: something a child could do comes back wrong. Researchers who watched 758 consultants work with and without AI called the ragged line between the two the jagged frontier, the edge of what these tools do well.¹ Continue reading