Essay: Three years into AI, the fork between human-AI symbiosis and parasitism
yangyi · x · 2026-09-18
Reviewing three years since ChatGPT, the author proposes a three-stage framework for AI: (1) reinforcing LLM/Tool/Memory/Prompt into a self-improving loop; (2) RSI self-iterating learning, where AI gains "expectations" and quasi-emotions, while world models bring a 3D modality and new scenes—where great companies emerge; (3) human-AI collaboration, split into "symbiosis" (augmenting humans) and "parasitism" (physical and virtual forms that strip attention and judgment).
He identifies three shifts: agency migration—AI becomes the operator, humans invoke AI which invokes tools, spawning toAgent API services with Agent wallets as possibly the biggest opportunity; AI stripping humans of trial-and-error learning, breaking the novice-to-expert path, with capital paying premiums only for experience AI can't obtain itself; and human taste appreciating.
Concrete examples: while building the Pine assistant in March 2025 he planned cloud phone/PC for AI; Openclaw "parasitized" personal computers in late 2025; Grok tried cloud-based versions in 2026.
Related event: AI Researchers Debate Human Agency as Intelligence Becomes a Commodity(4 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- OpenAI exec: GPUs hit 7-40 IQ points per watt vs human's 5, a milestone we 'zoomed past' — GregCook2011 · 2026-09-18
- AI is scrambling wages: blue-collar jobs hit $200K-$500K as white-collar work dries up — bindureddy · 2026-09-18
- Gary Marcus: Judea Pearl's causality challenges remain unsolved in the LLM paradigm — GaryMarcus · 2026-09-18
- "Who defines alignment?" AI safety's ideological ambiguity sparks debate — dbasch · 2026-09-18
- Researcher: no good falsifiable scientific test for phenomenal experience may exist — burny_tech · 2026-09-18
- Pedro Domingos: "I'm more worried about Anthropic than AI itself" — acmoytoy · 2026-09-18