CONCEPT
AI IS A TOOL
The dominant public metaphor for artificial intelligence, generating a specific set of entailments — passivity, control, instrumentality — that determine which questions the discourse can ask and which it cannot.
AI IS A TOOL is the conceptual metaphor that dominates corporate strategy, mainstream journalism, and most policy documents about artificial intelligence. The source domain is the handheld implement: a hammer, a telescope, a spreadsheet. A tool is an object; it possesses no agency; it does not act but is acted upon. The human is the subject; the tool is the instrument; the relationship is one of mastery. A tool extends human capability — the hammer extends the arm's striking force — but the extension does not alter the fundamental nature of the agent. These entailments transfer to the target domain (AI) whether the speaker intends them or not. The metaphor determines which questions feel natural (how do we use it well? how do we ensure it remains under control? how do we prevent misuse?) and which are rendered invisible (what happens when the tool participates in the user's cognitive process? how does the instrument reshape the person holding it?).
