LessWrong (Curated & Popular) “What, if not agency?” by abramdemski
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Oct 9, 2025 Abram Dembski, an insightful commentator on AI and author, breaks down Sahil's complex ideas about high-actuation and distributed care. He explores why high actuation encompasses technology's role better than automation, while clarifying the difference between agentic and co-agentic AI. Dembski discusses solarware—AI-enabled custom interfaces that could transform user experiences. He also highlights the importance of networks of care and reframes AI threats as indifference risks, tackling the intricate relationship between agency, goals, and alignment.
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High Actuation Reframes Technology
- Replace the automation lens with "high actuation" to better explain technology's power.
- High actuation emphasizes how media and tools let us cheaply and flexibly produce desired effects.
Co-Agency vs Agentic AI
- Contrast agentic AIs (drop-in autonomous agents) with co-agentic AIs (interfaces that augment humans).
- Co-agency focuses on enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing them.
Start Building Solarware Now
- Prepare for "solarware": AI-assisted, user-specific software and interfaces.
- Build or customize interfaces now to reclaim control of data, attention, and usability.