On April 2, 2026, MIT published a study titled « Crashing Waves vs. Rising Tides », in which 41 AI models, including Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT, were tested on more than 11,000 workplace tasks from the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database. The verdict: AI reaches « minimally sufficient » quality in 65% of cases. The equivalent of a disenchanted intern doing the bare minimum.
The numbers that matter
Researchers used a 1-to-9 scoring scale, where 7 means « minimally sufficient ». The work is usable as-is, no human editing required. At this level, AI passes two out of three tasks. But when excellence is demanded (score of 9), the success rate never exceeds 50%, regardless of how much time the model is given.
In other words: AI handles emails, summaries, and spreadsheets just fine. It fails when you need creativity, complex precision, or multi-step reasoning.
A rising tide, not a tsunami
The study debunks the « sudden mass replacement » narrative. AI automation is progressing steadily across a wide range of occupations. A rising tide, not a crashing wave. Legal and IT roles show lower success rates than construction or maintenance, where text-based tasks tend to be more standardized.
At the current pace of improvement (+11 percentage points per year), researchers estimate AI should reach 80-95% success on text-based tasks by 2029, at the « good enough » threshold. Reaching reliably superior quality would take « several additional years. »
What this means: AI can already produce « good enough » content. That's not enough to meet Google's E-E-A-T standards. The bar is rising for everyone.
What this changes for your content strategy
If you're publishing content on your website, and Google can already spot AI content after 16 months of testing, this study draws the line: « passable » content is becoming the AI default. What differentiates your brand is everything AI still can't do.
- Real-world expertise can't be automated. Client anecdotes, implementation feedback, internal data, no LLM can fabricate these. That's your E-E-A-T advantage.
- « Good enough » writing doesn't convert. 65% success at minimum quality means the web will flood with mediocre content. AI search engines pick sources that add something extra, your content needs to be among them.
- AI as a tool, not an author. Companies that succeed use AI to accelerate production, not replace thinking. An AI first draft + human expertise = content that performs. A 100% AI article = more noise.
Our take
This MIT study confirms what we've been seeing with our clients for a year: pure AI content is already insufficient to rank. Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity favor sources that demonstrate genuine expertise. When AI reaches 90% by 2029, the only content that will survive is what no model can generate alone. Your data, your experience, your point of view.
« Good enough » is the new baseline. Aim higher.
Sources
- → MIT FutureTech, « Crashing Waves vs. Rising Tides » study (April 2026)
- → Fortune, « MIT tested AI on thousands of workplace tasks » (April 3, 2026)
- → arXiv, Full paper (2604.01363)
Growth and SEO content strategist, I founded Cicéro to help businesses build lasting organic visibility. On Google and in AI-generated answers alike. Every piece of content we produce is designed to convert, not just to exist.
LinkedIn