CONCEPT
Three Relational Stances Toward AI
The 2026 AI & Society framework — tool, partner, extension — that identifies the relational posture as the decisive variable in determining developmental outcome, independent of the technology itself.
A research synthesis published in AI & Society in 2026 identified three distinct relational stances users adopt toward generative AI: the tool stance (the AI as instrument, subordinated to the user's separate creative agency), the partner stance (the AI as genuine other, producing collaboration in transitional space), and the extension stance (the AI as prosthetic for the self, absorbed into the user's performance of creativity). The Winnicott volume reads these stances through the framework's distinctions. The tool stance preserves the user's creative independence but forecloses genuine collaboration. The partner stance opens the transitional space where primary creativity can operate between human and machine. The extension stance collapses the space entirely, converting the AI into a sophisticated accessory to false-self performance.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The finding's importance lies in its demonstration that the technology itself does not determine the outcome. The same model, the same prompts, the same workflow can produce radically different developmental effects depending