Foundational Expertise Enables Durable AI Gains

A randomized trial of 133 patent lawyers found AI drafting tools raised immediate task performance, but lasting improvements on the same task without AI accrued mainly to senior lawyers. Junior lawyers’ outcomes bifurcated (fewer middling, but more poor and more excellent scores), implying that baseline domain mastery determines who converts AI assistance into durable skill. — If true broadly, AI deployment will widen within‑profession skill gaps and force changes in training, credentialing, and task allocation to ensure juniors don’t become dependent but unskilled.