CONCEPT
Automation vs Augmentation (Brynjolfsson)
The distinction at the heart of the Turing Trap — between AI systems designed to replace human workers (automation) and systems designed to amplify human capabilities (augmentation) — with the same technology pointing in different directions based on deliberate design choices.
Brynjolfsson's automation-versus-augmentation distinction frames the central design choice in AI deployment. Automation asks whether a machine can perform a task instead of a human; augmentation asks whether a machine can enable a human to do something neither could do alone. Both can be valuable — some tasks are genuinely better performed by machines — but the aggregate balance determines distributional outcomes. Automation reduces demand for human labor and concentrates gains among those who own the machines. Augmentation expands demand for human capability and distributes gains among those who use them. The choice between paths is not dictated by the technology, which is neutral on the question, but by design decisions at every level: research priorities, product architecture, organizational deployment, tax incentives, regulatory frameworks. The current default structure tilts toward automation; rebalancing requires deliberate intervention.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The distinction is operational, not definitional. A tool is