Better Technology, Worse Motivation: Generative Artificial Intelligence’s Mediocrity Trap

Abstract

This paper examines how generative artificial intelligence (AI) affects both productivity and motivation in creative work. In a randomized experiment, participants were asked to complete two illustration tasks with varying access to a text-to-image AI tool. By recording the production process and evaluating outputs every 15 minutes, the paper traces how quality evolves over time. The results suggest that AI improves output quality at every point but also reduces the returns to continued effort. Many illustrators therefore stop earlier, and some ultimately submit lower-quality work. For developing economies seeking to use AI to compensate for scarce skills, the findings suggest that realizing AI’s productivity gains may require incentives and work design that sustain effort beyond the “good enough” level.