OpenAI Study: AI Advice Widens Performance Gap Among Kenyan SMBs
daveholtz · x · 2026-08-13
OpenAI researcher Dave Holtz shared results from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted on Kenyan small business owners. While the initial hope was that AI mentors would universally improve business performance, the study found no overall detectable impact. However, cutting the data revealed a Matthew effect: AI access actually helped already-successful business owners improve further, while low-performing owners ended up doing worse when given AI advice.
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