Human autonomy is increasingly at risk as we outsource more and more decisions to AI. The gradual disempowerment thesis argues that we will lose control over the systems around us, and this project seeks solutions to the loss of human control.
About the project
This project aims to create a research paper on solutions to the loss of human autonomy and gradual disempowerment. By autonomy, I mean humanity's self-governance of our own lives, and also of the systems and institutions we have created, including companies, government and military.
The core question is, how can we protect human thought, freedom of action and decision-making in a world that becomes AI-dominated. This may occur due to advancements in AI or simply via human outsourcing. As we advance towards more capable AI, it is clear that more and more decisions will be outsourced to AI systems, until very little is left under human control. This poses extreme and at times, catastrophic risks.
We have seen the early, and somewhat less risky, version of this trend in the arts, with AI art now dominating online spaces, and in universities, with students increasingly outsourcing their work and thinking to AI systems. This is slowly expanding with AI therapy, chatbots and decision-making systems that pre-empt, augment and replace human decisions in a variety of industries. As this problem spreads to governments, lawyers, computer scientists and other fields, we may reach a tipping point where we lose control over human society.
Research questions:
- What policies can we enact to protect human oversight of government, education, media and culture?
- What would a loss of human autonomy look like and how do we practically share this vision with policymakers?
- How do we safeguard human thought, freedom of speech and action in an AI-dominant world?
- How do we protect human learning when AI is dominating education?
Theory of change
Preventing a loss of human autonomy would prevent related risks of misalignment, loss of control and catastrophic risks from AI systems taking over government and military systems.
Unlike other risk areas, autonomy is a slow-rolling avalanche. As described in the gradual disempowerment thesis, it is likely to occur at a slow rate, meaning we likely won't respond until it is too late. For this reason, an early, firm and comprehensive response would do incredible things to rebalance the policy landscape.
I've written about this risk elsewhere: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00146-025-02397-5
I've previously proposed a right to human autonomy in law: https://www.boomportaal.nl/tijdschrift/ELR/ELR_2210-2671_2025\_006
Your role
Research, brainstorming and autonomous idea formation.
Prerequisites
Research background, ideally in policy, law or related fields.
Application question(s)
Provide a link to one or more relevant writing samples, ideally from a research context.
About the mentor
Joshua Krook is a researcher focusing on the regulation of AI. He has a PhD in Law and has worked at top universities, with governments and the nonprofit sector. Joshua has been recognised as an expert in his field, working with Responsible AI UK, the TASHub and the Antwerp Centre for Responsible AI to conduct state-of-the-art research on AI transparency, AI governance, human autonomy, gradual disempowerment, X-risks, and recommender systems.