CONCEPT
Jurisdictional Settlement
Abbott's term for the stable arrangement that emerges from a period of jurisdictional competition, defining how different groups share or divide authority over a domain of work.
A jurisdictional settlement is the institutional equilibrium reached when competing professional groups arrive at stable terms for sharing or dividing authority over contested work. Settlements are not negotiated between equals but produced by the decisions of the institutional actors—organizations, states, courts—that arbitrate professional disputes. In the AI transition, the emerging settlement increasingly locates AI-augmented practitioners at the implementation layer while reserving judgment, architecture, and evaluation for established practitioners. This settlement is not a compromise but a new jurisdictional arrangement, and its terms are being set not by professional negotiation but by the unilateral decisions of the organizations that employ both groups.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Settlements take many forms. One profession may win full jurisdiction over a domain, excluding others entirely. Two professions may divide a domain along functional lines, with one controlling diagnosis and another controlling treatment. A profession may accept subordinate jurisdiction—performing the work under the supervision of another profession that retains ultimate authority. A profession may accept advisory jurisdiction—providing