Sophistication in GenAI Use: Field Evidence from a Large Firm

We study how sophistication in generative AI (genAI) use varies among the back-office workforce of a large firm. Using proprietary data, we observe 713,564 employee prompts and their corresponding large language model responses from nearly 4,000 back-office employees across 15 functional areas over eight months in 2025. We document three main findings. First, senior employees exhibit more sophisticated genAI use, consistent with domain expertise complementing genAI capabilities. Second, sophistication varies considerably across functions and is highest in Strategy, Digital Innovation, and Project Management, three groups that share a focus on firmwide strategic initiatives and organizational change. Third, we observe neither improvements in sophistication over time nor lasting improvements following formal AI training, suggesting that sophisticated use can be difficult to change. Together, our study provides measures of and insights into sophisticated genAI use that managers can use to improve outcomes and that researchers can use in future research.

Compass: Continuously Aligning Social Media Feeds via In-Situ Reflections

Social media recommendation feeds often optimize for users' immediate impulses rather than preferences they would hold after deeper reflection. Some systems address this misalignment by incorporating users' explicit preferences via a configuration page or in-feed controls instead of just behavioral signals. However, users typically have evolving preferences, and their stated preferences and behavior naturally diverge, necessitating continuous reflection and feed realignment. But existing strategies require the user to take initiative and are often effortful; as a result, in practice they are rarely invoked. We present Compass, a system that aligns a user's feed with their reflective preferences by helping users reflect on and articulate their preferences given their behavior. To enable continuous reflection during everyday browsing, Compass surfaces in-situ reflections via lightweight notifications, while feed alignment is achieved by periodically simulating behavioral signals and directly manipulating feed content. We embedded Compass within YouTube Shorts and compared it against a baseline without continuous support through a 10-day field study (N=15). We found that Compass promoted more reflective and purposeful feed consumption, iterative preference adjustment, and stronger feed alignment, without sacrificing the casual nature of feed browsing.