AI deskilling is a structural problem
type: NewsArticle
description: Artificial intelligence tools that replace human activity risk systematically deskilling people by creating "capacity-hostile environments" that undermine the development and exercise of human abilities. A new philosophical analysis argues that AI mediation disrupts the gradual process of habituation through which people acquire agential control over skills, including learning from others and understanding the value of those skills. The paper calls for evaluating AI applications based on whether they foster or impede capacity cultivation, emphasizing a societal obligation to create capacity-conducive environments rather than placing responsibility solely on individuals.
date published: 2026-05-25 21:48:11+00:00
date modified: 2026-05-25 22:07:34.541770+00:00
language: en
is accessible for free: true
article body: ## Abstract Many artificial intelligence tools replace or stand to replace human activity, via automated decision-making, recommender systems and content generation. The more artificial intelligence (AI) replaces valuable human activity, the more it risks deskilling humans of their human capacities. This paper argues for applying a *structural* perspective to this phenomenon. It introduces the concept of ‘capacity-hostile environments’ to identify instances where AI mediation impedes human capacity cultivation. The analysis moves beyond individual responsibility that agents have to cultivate their human capacities, demonstrating how AI’s influence creates systemic conditions that could inhibit the development and exercise of human capacities by undermining the process of capacity cultivation. Drawing on the philosophy of skill as well as social epistemology, this paper argues that capacity cultivation (skilling) includes acquiring agential control over the capacities, inculcated through a long, gradual process of habituation. Habituation, in turn, depends on learning from others: the ‘know how’ of the skill, as well as a shared understanding of the value of the skill. AI mediation risks undermining the quality of the conditions for capacity habituation, leading to capacity impoverishment. By exploring the role of AI in mediating human activity, the paper highlights the need to evaluate AI applications based on their conduciveness or hostility to capacity cultivation. Ultimately, it calls for a critical reflection on the values inherent in AI socio-technical systems and emphasizes the societal obligation to foster capacity-conducive environments in the age of AI. ### Similar content being viewed by others ## 1 Introduction In Plato’s *Phaedrus*, Socrates cautions that writing will deskill the capacity for memory in people’s minds: trusting an external entity will discourage the use of their own memory within them. A similar warning about technology-induced deskilling…
publisher: Web Pulse
keywords: artificial-intelligence, ai-ethics, ai-safety, ai-policy
citation: CreativeWork