Why generative AI is different from designed technology regarding task-relatedness, user interaction, and agency

Generative AI requires us to rethink what constitutes technology, how technology is socially constructed, and how technology is used. Our common understanding of technology is mainly derived from designed technology. Generative AI, in contrast, is a learned technology and, moreover, a technology that mainly relies on unsupervised learning. The paper argues that this has far-reaching consequences with respect to the task-relatedness of generative AI systems, the user interaction with generative AI systems, and the agency of those systems. Designed technological behavior is usually designed with respect to particular tasks. AI systems based on unsupervised learning, in contrast, are not task-related is such a manner. Consequently, generative AI systems cannot be operated in the same way as designed technology. Rather than instructing them, operating them requires what can be described as strategic interaction. Interacting with generative AI systems leads to new actor roles and role relationships. The agency of technological artifacts that are designed and used for particular tasks tends to be the agency of a tool. In contrast, the new agency of generative AI systems lies in their capability to mobilize machine-learned versions of human experiential knowledge and thereby to become in some respects similar to a human interaction partner.