The AI Agency Narrowing Effect

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2024-04-24 18:30:15

We wish to expand human agency: people’s capacity to think and decide for themselves, to feel the power to improve some part of life, and take responsibility for their own decisions.

When we utilize AI for anything beyond information-searching or pattern-matching – when we trust the opinions, recommendations, or suggestions of an AI – we also transfer agency from the human realm to the machine realm. This directly contradicts the value stated in Point 2.

I call it a “narrowing effect” because Point 4 reduces the capabilities of the AI system along some dimensions: art generation, AI therapy, group deliberations, event and travel planning. It also precludes much of the “AI Agents” capabilities that seem to be the next big thing from the big AI shops.