The Risk of Gradual Disempowerment Where Artificial Intelligence Atrophies Human Faculties

The launch of new artificial intelligence assistants by technology companies, claimed to lighten users' workloads day by day, is evaluated by some researchers as the beginning of a dangerous process for humanity. Experts such as Robocurve founder and CEO Jay Chooi, Margaret Mitchell from Hugging Face, and Jan Kulveit from the ACS Research Group point to the economic, political, and democratic risks this situation could create.

While digital assistants that automate business and living processes from major tech companies like Meta, Google, and OpenAI become widespread, researchers warn that this situation could turn humans into mere rubber-stamping approvers who do not think. This process, which not only creates job losses, can lead to the weakening of human skills and critical thinking abilities over time.

The term gradual disempowerment refers to artificial intelligence replacing human labor in the economy, taking over critical societal decisions, and weakening human creativity and cognitive faculties. Discussed in an article published in early 2025, this concept was debated by researchers such as Margaret Mitchell from Hugging Face and Jan Kulveit from the ACS Research Group in the context of the risks brought by transferring control to advanced artificial intelligence and robotic systems.

Robocurve founder and CEO Jay Chooi stated that he places gradual disempowerment at the very top, emphasizing that this problem is as concerning as engineered pandemics and cyberattacks. Chooi expressed that although the word "gradual" is included in the term, this is not something to worry about in the distant future; rather, it constitutes a civilization-scale problem.