The High Agency Question
What Does High Agency Mean for Humans?
You've probably heard a lot about agents lately in the context of artificial intelligence. From the capabilities perspective, some want to give agents as much agency as possible to achieve great things. From the safety perspective, others want to constrain agents completely to prevent them from potentially dooming the world.
While this debate is fascinating—perhaps even century-defining, as some predict—it sparked a more fundamental question for me: shouldn't we first understand what agency means for humans before determining how much agency AI should have?
This line of thinking led me down a rabbit hole of self-reflection, where I found myself asking:
What does it mean to have high agency as a human?
How much personal agency do I currently have?
What can I do to develop and increase my sense of agency?
Fortunately, I recently came across an excellent article that provided fascinating insights into exactly these questions. It's a thoughtful, 30-minute read that I genuinely recommend to everyone:
But if you're short on time, let me share two of the most important takeaways — the definition of high agency, and a simple mental model for solving any problem.
High Agency Definition
High Agency is the sense of control that you feel in your life, your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behaviour, and have faith in your ability to handle a wide range of tasks and situations.
High Agency is about finding a way to get what you want, without waiting for conditions to be perfect or otherwise blaming the circumstances. High Agency people either push through in the face of adverse conditions or manage to reverse the adverse conditions to achieve goals.
How To Solve Any Problem
Add the missing box - Act!