Conference Paper
Is ChatGPT Detrimental to Innovation? A Field Experiment among University Students
No.
ERF_31_MIC60
Publisher
ERF
Date
March, 2025
Topic
D. Microeconomics
This paper investigates the potential collateral effects of A.I innovations, specifically ChatGPT, on three key variables: innovation, readiness to exert effort, and risk behavior. A field experiment was conducted involving nearly 100 senior university students at a public university in Egypt, at a time when ChatGPT had not yet been legally operational. Over a one-month period, participants submitted three graded essay assignments. The treatment group utilized ChatGPT for writing the essays, while the control group completed the assignments without such assistance. After submission, both groups participated in a lab-based innovation game, a risk game, and a real effort task to measure their respective innovation, risk aversion, and effort exertion. The results revealed that students who used ChatGPT demonstrated significantly lower levels of innovation and risk aversion compared to the control group. Although the reduction in effort exerted by the ChatGPT group was not statistically significant, the overall trends suggest a potential decrease in effort related to the use of A.I. applications. This study is among the first to empirically test the impact of ChatGPT on innovation, effort, and risk behavior in a real-world academic setting. It provides preliminary evidence of the potential negative effects of A.I. applications on these variables, offering valuable insights for further research into the broader implications of A.I. on human behavior.
Authors
Mazen Hassan
Professor of Comparative Politics, Cairo University
Authors
Engi Amin
Assistant Lecturer, Socio-Computing Department, Faculty of Economics...
Authors
Sarah Mansour
Associate Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economics...
Authors
Zeyad Kelani
Assistant Professor, Cairo University