Narayanan & Unger propose a research agenda to steer AI toward augmenting humans
random_walker · x · 2026-10-16
Princeton professor Arvind Narayanan and Gabriel Unger published a new essay responding to the AI industry's widespread "automate everything" agenda, laying out a research agenda and plan of action to steer AI toward augmenting human capabilities instead.
Their thesis: AI-for-automation dominates not just because of economic incentives but also deeper cultural issues in computer science as a field — and that can be changed. Key points:
- They sketch four important research directions needed to build collaborative or augmentative AI, challenges largely ignored by the automation paradigm
- They advocate for renewed focus on Human-Computer Interaction
AI safety researchers praised it as an agenda that a broad coalition can get behind from the AI safety worldview.
Related event: Princeton's Narayanan Calls for AI to Augment Humans Over Automation(4 posts)→
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