AI boosts patent drafting, but lasting unaided gains go to seniors
An NBER working paper, reported by The Decoder, describes a three-month randomized trial involving 133 patent attorneys at 11 US intellectual property law firms. Participants using Google Labs' unreleased InFlow assistant performed better in AI-assisted claim drafting, especially junior attorneys, but in unaided redlining only senior attorneys retained an advantage. The authors suggest AI may accelerate skill development for some junior attorneys while replacing it for others.
The field experiment provides evidence that AI's immediate productivity gains do not necessarily translate into durable professional expertise, particularly for junior patent attorneys.
AI makes junior patent attorneys instantly better but may quietly stunt their professional growth
Jonathan Kemper View the LinkedIn Profile of Jonathan Kemper
Oct 24, 2026
Nano Banana Pro prompted by THE DECODER
A three-month field experiment with 133 patent attorneys shows that AI assistance improves immediate performance, especially for junior lawyers. But when the AI is taken away, only senior attorneys retain the benefits.
#InFlow#Google Labs#National Bureau of Economic Research#The Decoder