AI makes junior patent attorneys instantly better but may quietly stunt their professional growth

A Google-funded study had patent attorneys draft claims with an unreleased Google Labs AI assistant called InFlow and then redline a flawed draft without AI, with blinded attorneys scoring results across five categories. AI-assisted drafting gains were much larger for juniors than seniors, but on the unaided redlining task only seniors retained an advantage while juniors showed wider score spread with more low and high ratings. The authors suggest baseline expertise may be needed to convert AI-assisted practice into durable skill, while noting limitations including small sample size and a three-month window.