The Dual-System Challenge: Human Psychological Evolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

The Dual-System Challenge: Human Psychological Evolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence proposes a conceptual interdisciplinary framework for examining the increasingly coupled relationship between human psychological systems and artificial technological systems. The paper argues that the rapid development and integration of artificial intelligence creates a distinctive challenge because human cognitive, emotional, ethical, and epistemic capacities evolved through biological, developmental, and cultural processes under conditions substantially different from contemporary AI-mediated environments. The paper conceptualizes two interacting components: the Human Internal System, comprising cognitive processes, emotions, motivations, perception, memory, social cognition, metacognition, values, ethical judgment, and epistemic practices; and the Artificial External System, comprising AI models, algorithms, digital infrastructures, recommendation systems, automated decision systems, and related computational technologies. The proposed Dual-System Challenge concerns the consequences of increasing coupling between these systems, particularly where artificial-system outputs become inputs into human reasoning, decision-making, belief formation, and subsequent technological development. The framework develops four interconnected mechanisms: cognitive substitution and augmentation, human–AI feedback loops, AI-mediated epistemic dependence and verbal testimony, and psychological adaptation to rapidly changing technological environments. It extends the author's earlier theoretical work on Human–AI Convolution while explicitly treating these concepts as theoretical constructs rather than empirically established psychological laws. The paper integrates existing empirical and philosophical literature concerning human–AI collaboration, AI-induced changes in human judgment, and epistemic trust in AI-mediated communication. On this basis, it proposes the Dual-System Regulation Thesis, which holds that responsible technological development requires simultaneous attention to the governance of artificial systems and the development of human psychological, cognitive, ethical, and epistemic capacities. The study is conceptual and interdisciplinary rather than an empirical experimental study. Its purpose is to formulate a coherent theoretical framework, identify mechanisms and relationships that warrant investigation, and establish a research agenda for future empirical work concerning cognitive autonomy, epistemic trust, human–AI feedback, psychological adaptation, education, and AI governance. Research areas: Artificial Intelligence Ethics; Philosophy of Technology; Philosophy of Mind; Psychology; Epistemology; Human–AI Interaction. Link 🔗 https://drive.google.com/file/d/16c4EujcNrs_JrH91fVkG1Or1hbJqZAX7/view?usp=drivesdk