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)→
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