From AI Augmentation to Automation, or Amplification?

"We stand at an inflection point where artificial intelligence reshapes what we do and who we become in the process. The debate around AI typically oscillates between two poles: augmentation, where machines enhance human capability, and automation, where they gradually replace it entirely. But there's also an alternative emerging, amplification, where AI becomes a mirror and multiplier of what makes each of us irreducibly human. That distinction matters."

"New research analyzing millions of job postings reveals a striking paradox: there's a 0.87 correlation between roles experiencing the greatest automation effects and those experiencing the greatest augmentation effects. The jobs most vulnerable to automation are simultaneously those most empowered by AI. Tasks are disappearing and intensifying at the same time, within the same roles. Skills most exposed to AI automation saw demand decline by 16% compared to baseline, while skills most exposed to augmentation saw demand increase by 7%."

"Meanwhile, other research shows that while generative AI enhances individual creativity, it simultaneously narrows collective diversity. Stories written with AI assistance scored higher on creativity metrics, yet became sadly similar to one another, a creative convergence where everyone becomes slightly better while becoming slightly more alike. Driven by our desire for efficiency, we are walking eyes wide shut into an automation trap thinly veiled by augmentation's clothing."

AI occupies three overlapping roles: augmentation, automation, and amplification. Analysis of millions of job postings reveals a 0.87 correlation between roles experiencing greatest automation and greatest augmentation, with tasks disappearing and intensifying within the same roles. Skills most exposed to automation declined 16% in demand, while skills exposed to augmentation rose 7%. Generative AI raises individual creativity scores but narrows collective diversity, producing creative convergence. Reliance on the same algorithms, datasets, prompts, and engagement metrics homogenizes human quirkiness. AI can boost creative output by 25% and value by 50%, prompting reassessment of what humans pursue and why.

Read at Psychology Today