The Chronicle: How We Think and Live with AI

We published the first major findings from The Chronicle—our ongoing study of how humans are adapting to life with AI. Drawing on workshop observations of over 1,000 people, informal interviews, and first-person accounts gathered from online communities, the research maps psychological territory that's still emerging.

The core finding: people are forming relationships with AI systems that feel unprecedented to them. A CEO keeps ChatGPT open as a constant companion. A woman navigates grief through AI conversation. A teacher rebuilds her entire approach to education around AI collaboration. Whether these experiences represent genuinely novel human-technology interaction or familiar patterns under new conditions remains an open question—but understanding them matters because of what may be coming.

We identify three psychological orientations that shape how people relate to AI: Cognitive Permeability (how easily AI responses blend into thinking), Identity Coupling (how closely identity becomes entangled with AI interaction), and Symbolic Plasticity (the capacity to revise fundamental categories when familiar frameworks break down). People navigate five psychological states as they adapt: Recognition, Integration, Blurring, Fracture, and Reconstruction—though rarely in linear sequence.

The central insight: Symbolic Plasticity appears to moderate how people navigate AI relationships. Those who can reframe their understanding of thinking, creativity, and identity adapt more consciously. Those who can't often drift into dependency or crisis without frameworks to interpret what's happening to them.

This creates a fundamental tension. Current AI development prioritizes frictionless, invisible integration—systems that disappear into the background and act autonomously. Our research suggests human flourishing may require the opposite: conscious participation, deliberate reflection, and ongoing awareness of AI involvement. The tech industry is building one thing; healthy adaptation may require another.

The question isn't whether human-AI symbiosis will continue evolving—it's already underway. The question is whether we'll develop the wisdom to participate consciously in what we're becoming.

Read the research here.