Maximizing AI’s potential requires employee training, says Tulane professor | New Orleans CityBusiness

In 2024, U.S. companies invested more than $110 billion in Artificial Intelligence technology as recent studies show that more than 80% of U.S. companies are already using AI in at least one business function, including 99% of Fortune 500 companies (Dealroom analytic study).

However, a Tulane University business professor warns that simply investing in AI technology or rolling out tools like ChatGPT is not enough. Companies need to invest in their employees as well on how to use AI in order to maximize strategic thinking and creativity in the workplace.

“Employers need to leverage their AI investments by also investing in their people, training employees on how to use that technology they’re bringing in. Businesses can thrive in that kind of collaborative environment,” says Shuhua Sun, who holds the Peter W. and Paul A. Callais Professorship in Entrepreneurship at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business.

Sun says generative AI can be a powerful tool for enhancing workplace creativity, but only when paired with employees’ metacognitive engagement. “Generative AI use doesn’t automatically make people more creative,” says Sun. “It boosts creativity only for employees who use metacognitive strategies – those who actively analyze their tasks, monitor their thought processes, and adjust their approaches.”

Sun is the lead author of “How and For Whom Using Generative AI Affects Creativity: A Field Experiment,” a study recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Combined with professors and researchers from Renmin University of China, Nanyang Technological University, Rice University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sun co-authored one of the first field experiments to investigate the impact of large language models (LLMs) on creativity in real-world work settings.

“This is one of the first real-world studies to show who benefits from AI at work and why,” says Sun. “It’s not about knowing how to use the tool. It’s about knowing how to think with it.”
Researchers worked with a technology consulting firm and randomly assigned 250 non-managerial employees from technology, sales/consulting, and administration departments, to either use ChatGPT or not. Supervisors and outside reviewers evaluated their creativity during a regular workweek.

While employees with access to AI performed better – generating more novel and practical ideas – the employees who benefited the most weren’t just using ChatGPT passively, but they were actively thinking about how to approach their work, what problems they were trying to solve, and how best to use AI to support their goals.

Employees with high metacognitive strategies were able to leverage AI to gain these cognitive resources and thus become more creative.  Those with low metacognitive strategies did not benefit significantly from AI use. In short, the research results showed that companies need to help employees develop better thinking habits, including how to assess problems, adjust strategies, and utilize new resources.

“Even the most advanced generative AI systems won’t enhance creativity if employees are passive consumers of their output and lack the metacognitive strategies needed to engage with them effectively,” says Sun. “To unlock AI’s potential for boosting workplace creativity, organizations must go beyond simply deploying new tools – they also need to invest in developing employees’ metacognitive skills and promote thoughtful, strategic use of AI to acquire the cognitive job resources that support creative thinking.”

Sun says these thinking skills can be taught through targeted training and development programs to help workers become more intentional in how they plan, monitor, and adapt their work, all of which make them more effective at using AI tools creatively, says Sun.

And Sun also says the study’s implications extend beyond the workplace. Sun and his coauthors urge educators and policymakers to treat metacognitive skill development as a core priority in preparing students for the age of AI. While education systems have long emphasized cognitive skills, they have often paid less attention to developing metacognitive abilities, skills that will be essential as AI becomes an everyday tool in the future of work, says Sun.

“If we want people to thrive alongside AI, we need to start treating metacognitive skill development as a foundational part of education and professional training in the AI era.”