A Phenomenological Study of the Place of Human Autonomy and Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has greatly influenced our modern society and is being incorporated into almost all facets of human life. The capabilities and possibilities of AI are endless but its use and safety has raised a lot of ethical questions. There are also concerns that AI will negatively impact humanity if it is not designed and used ethically.  Ethical considerations in the design and use of AI is a recent and pertinent issue which designers and producers of AI need to consider because of the possibilities of its tremendous impact on humanity. The dilemma of the place of human autonomy and agency in this new age of artificial intelligence is a notable ethical issue which the paper seeks to address; will human dependence on AI lead to the reduction of  human autonomy and agency  in the future? Will our preference for efficiency and optimization lead to the replacement of humanlike traits with machinelike traits? Employing the existentialist framework, this paper sets out  to explore the place of human autonomy and agency in the age of artificial intelligence, it identifies the impact of the adoption and use of AI on human freedom, it also advocates for a future without total reliance on AI. Adopting the phenomenological method, it seeks to establish that humanity must maintain control over AI  to ensure its safety and that AI must be designed and produced   in a way that it augments humanity and not made to replace humanity. This must be done to ensure that humanity does not become over dependent on AI in the  future. The paper recommends that  AI must be  designed to align with human values to ensure the preservation of human autonomy and agency in a world that  is increasingly becoming dependent on AI.