Venkat Ram Reddy Ganuthula, Manish Kumar Singh
This paper presents the "Paradox of Augmentation," a theoretical framework that seeks to model the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) assistance on human cognitive abilities and skills. This framework suggests that AI assistance can initially augment human performance with consistently high productivity gains. However, sustained usage may lead to a gradual decline in human skills and proficiency and thus, an overall reduction in human competence. We present a mathematical model that encapsulates key elements, including the level of human proficiency, the extent of AI assistance, and the interplay between learning and forgetting processes. To conclude, we discuss the theoretical and real-world implications of the paradox, the limitations of the present study, and outline potential research directions.