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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16197 |
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| _version_ | 1866914569872474112 |
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| author | Gutoreva, Alina Tsim, Fendi Papakonstantinou, Trisevgeni |
| author_facet | Gutoreva, Alina Tsim, Fendi Papakonstantinou, Trisevgeni |
| contents | This position paper argues that safety and alignment cannot be achieved by constraining an external system: they must emerge from the co-regulatory design of the human--AI cognitive system as a whole ("AI as Part of Self"). Contemporary AI increasingly participates in attention allocation, reasoning, synthesis, and decision-making, shaping the very cognitive processes through which humans form beliefs, make decisions, and constitute their sense of self. Humans and AI occupy complementary epistemic roles under mutual constraint, forming a symbiotic cognitive unit whose co-regulation -- not the external control of either party alone -- is the proper locus of alignment. We identify the risks of unstructured delegation: deskilling, automation bias, transfer of epistemic authority, and oracle-style centralization of knowledge. Drawing on System~0 cognition theory, we further show that AI operates prior to conscious deliberation, shaping the pre-attentive infrastructures through which agency and trust are negotiated -- a level that conventional oversight cannot reach. We conclude with design principles for cognitive co-regulation addressed to ML engineers and governance bodies. The goal of this work is to guide human cognition toward resilience and epistemic agency at the foundation of human selfhood. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_16197 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Position: AI as Part of Self -- Extending the Mind Requires Cognitive Co-Regulation Gutoreva, Alina Tsim, Fendi Papakonstantinou, Trisevgeni Human-Computer Interaction This position paper argues that safety and alignment cannot be achieved by constraining an external system: they must emerge from the co-regulatory design of the human--AI cognitive system as a whole ("AI as Part of Self"). Contemporary AI increasingly participates in attention allocation, reasoning, synthesis, and decision-making, shaping the very cognitive processes through which humans form beliefs, make decisions, and constitute their sense of self. Humans and AI occupy complementary epistemic roles under mutual constraint, forming a symbiotic cognitive unit whose co-regulation -- not the external control of either party alone -- is the proper locus of alignment. We identify the risks of unstructured delegation: deskilling, automation bias, transfer of epistemic authority, and oracle-style centralization of knowledge. Drawing on System~0 cognition theory, we further show that AI operates prior to conscious deliberation, shaping the pre-attentive infrastructures through which agency and trust are negotiated -- a level that conventional oversight cannot reach. We conclude with design principles for cognitive co-regulation addressed to ML engineers and governance bodies. The goal of this work is to guide human cognition toward resilience and epistemic agency at the foundation of human selfhood. |
| title | Position: AI as Part of Self -- Extending the Mind Requires Cognitive Co-Regulation |
| topic | Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16197 |