Trusted vs. Untrusted Agency Amplifiers

Detail from an illustration by Edward R. Loper from the National Gallery of Art. Like everyone else in tech (and increasingly outside of it), I’ve spent a lot of the last few years thinking about AI and how it can be used in my work. More and more, the framework I’ve been using to evaluate AI tools—or any tools for that matter—can be boiled down into the terms: trusted agency amplifiers (TAA) vs. untrusted agency amplifiers (UAA). I think of tools as agency amplifiers. They give you agency as it’s traditionally defined: the ability to make decisions and act independently. The right tool allows you to do things without roping someone else into the equation or makes team efforts more efficient with better outcomes. A pencil lets you think on paper. A pen makes the record of those thoughts more durable. A printed book can spread those ideas around the world. All of them amplify your agency, but to different degrees and with different levels of trust. A pencil and pen are very…