WorkThe story, in brief
A New Study from Harvard and Perplexity Finds AI Agents Perform 26 Minutes of Autonomous Work per Session vs 33 Seconds for Search
26 minutes vs 33 seconds. A Harvard-Perplexity study just quantified why AI agents are about to replace search.
The KeyNews take
Why it matters
Academic research providing empirical evidence that autonomous agents deliver dramatically higher productivity than traditional search—a finding that validates the agent-first shift and will shape enterprise AI investment decisions.
The key facts
7 to knowAI agents perform 26 minutes of autonomous work per session
Search assistants perform 33 seconds per session
~47x difference in task duration and autonomy
Study uses matched-pair methodology for controlled comparison
Broader scope of work attempted by agents vs search
Cost efficiency gains demonstrated
Harvard and Perplexity collaboration on research
Go to the source
MarkTechPostmarktechpost.com
Publisher excerpt: A new Harvard and Perplexity paper uses matched-pair sessions to compare an autonomous agent with a search assistant. It finds large gains in autonomy, time, and cost, plus broader scope of work attempted. The post A New Study from Harvard and Perplexity Finds AI Agents Perform 26 Minutes of…