New insights from Google’s AI & Economy ATLAS

What happened

New data visualizations make ATLAS data easier to explore and use, while new research provides insights on how scientists are using AI. AI & Economy Lead, Chief Economist's Office Head of StratOps and Special Projects, Technology & Society Your browser does not support the audio element. This content is generated by Google AI.

Usage of LLMs like Gemini is spread widely across scientific fields and task categories, while specialized AI models tend to be relatively more common in health and life sciences and in domain-specific data prediction, generation, and simulation tasks. Scientists are reporting significant time gains based on AI, with savings of just below seven hours a week, freeing up more time for research.

But this may not immediately translate to new discoveries. The research also finds evidence of significant time spent validating AI outputs, an increased backlog of hypotheses yet to be tested, and bottlenecks emerging in areas like physical experimentation and clinical validation.

ATLAS is a long-term research project, and we’ll work with partners in academia and elsewhere to identify new areas of research and deliver new insights that contribute to a better understanding of how AI is transforming the economy. Your information will be used in accordance with Google's privacy policy. You may opt out at any time.

Why it matters

Generative AI is experimental How is AI being used by people every day, including in offices, labs, and creative studios around the world? Insights from Google’s AI & Economy ATLAS show how AI is actively reshaping global work. For example: To make these insights and ATLAS's millions of other global data points easier to explore, we're launching a new interactive, open-access experience.

You can look more closely at the rates different occupations are using AI, from electricians to purchasing managers, dive into the ways people are using AI at home, and explore the rate of AI adoption in countries around the world.

And new ATLAS-based research from Google, Google DeepMind, in collaboration with MIT FutureTech provides new insights how scientists are using AI in their work, including: ATLAS data reveals how different professions around the globe are adopting AI, highlighting key regional trends and usage patterns: New research also highlights how scientists are using AI in their work. A new study from Google, Google DeepMind, and MIT FutureTech draws on ATLAS data.

S. K. scientists, all organized using a new taxonomy from MIT FutureTech that maps out what scientists do. According to the research, scientists are using AI at a higher rate than many other occupations, and nearly half use some form of AI every day. While scientists are using both specialized models and LLMs, they're using them for different tasks.

What to watch

In this way, science is similar to most other occupations: although AI offers significant potential to increase productivity, the large-scale impact on outputs and discoveries may require redesigning scientific processes and workflows to realize the potential of fast-evolving AI capabilities. Many questions about the future of AI and the economy remain.