Reconsidering Agency in the Age of AI

Abstract

The expansive development of AI technologies challenges our conventional understanding of agency, which has traditionally been anchored in the human capacity for autonomous action and decision-making. As human-AI interactions become increasingly complex, the boundary between human and machine agency is continuously breached, prompting a reconsideration of the concept of agency as potentially no longer a human proprium. This paper offers preliminary reflections on the prerequisites and conditions for a post-anthropocentric theory of agency in the age of AI, beginning with a historical reconstruction and conceptual validation of the evolving notion of agency.

Keywords

• AI
• agency
• human-AI-interaction
• autonomy
• actor-network theory