W7114889935 Working papers AI × management and organizations

Cyborgs, Centaurs and Self-Automators: The Three Modes of Human-GenAI Knowledge Work and Their Implications for Skilling and the Future of Expertise

Steven Randazzo · Hila Lifshitz-Assaf · Katherine Kellogg · Fabrizio Dell'Acqua · Ethan R. Mollick · François Candelon · Karim R. Lakhani

Also recorded as: Harvard Business School Working Paper 26-036 · The Wharton School Research Paper · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4921696 · ssrn:4921696

ssrn abstract page · 2024-09-12

Recorded claims
1
coded from the inspected source
Evidence classes
1
ssrn-abstract-page
Recorded limitations
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stated, never hidden

From the hash-bound evidence releases

Recorded claims

Each claim states what the inspected source says, at the recorded location—bounded by its scope and graded by its confidence. Nothing here is a synthesis across works.

In a field study of 244 global BCG management consultants, the authors identify three recurring human-GenAI knowledge-work modes distinguished by who selects what work is needed and who determines how it is done; they associate Centaurs with deeper domain expertise, Cyborgs with new GenAI expertise, and Self-Automators with neither form of skill increase.

confidence: moderate ssrn-abstract-page apw-e1-ssrn-backfill

Scope: Universe and denominator: 244 global BCG management consultants; unit: consultant workflow; period: not displayed; denominators for the three modes and skilling outcomes are not displayed.

Structured relationships

In-corpus citations

Only source-supplied cites relationships whose two endpoints are admitted are shown. Invocation evidence remains a separate relationship.

Boundaries

Limitations & independence

Recorded at coding time, carried with the work forever. A claim without its limits is not evidence.

Recorded limitations

  • Abstract-level evidence only; full text was not inspected.
  • The abstract does not display mode counts, effect sizes, study period, coding method, or uncertainty; the skilling statements are field-study associations rather than randomized effects.

Source independence

ssrn-only