Human Authenticity and Flourishing in an AI-Driven World: Edmund's Journey and the Call for Mindfulness

TL;DR

The paper examines the tension between AI-enabled enhancements and the preservation of intrinsic human faculties. It presents a narrative of Edmund's 2035 life to illustrate how AI superpowers can both augment everyday functioning and erode authentic human experiences. It then articulates four AI superpowers—extended perception, cognitive offloading, externalized memory, and enhanced presence—and discusses implications for HCI through preserving human capabilities, defining meaningful use cases, and rethinking evaluation frameworks. A key contribution is the Human Flourishing Benchmark (HFB), a multidimensional evaluation framework that assesses AI's impact on cognitive preservation, autonomy, skill development, and relational authenticity, validated by experts and adaptable across cultures. Overall, the work advocates for responsible, reflective AI integration that foregrounds human flourishing and interdisciplinary collaboration to avoid overreliance and loss of genuine human connection.

Abstract

Humans have always dreamed of possessing superpowers, and the rapid development of AI-based features promises to bring these dreams (closer) to reality. However, these advancements come with significant risks. This paper advocates for challenging existing methods and approaches in design and evaluation for more responsible AI. We stimulate reflection through a futuristic user journey illustrating the AI-driven life of Edmund in 2035. Subsequently, we discuss four AI-based superpowers: extended perception, cognitive offloading, externalized memory, and enhanced presence. We then discuss implications for HCI and AI, emphasizing the need for preserving intrinsic human superpowers, identifying meaningful use cases for AI, and evaluating AI's impact on human abilities. This paper advocates for responsible and reflective AI integration and proposes a pathway towards the idea of a Human Flourishing Benchmark.