Before You Think: System 0, AI-Mediated Cognition and Cognitive Colonization
For philosophers and AI ethicists, this paper provides a conceptual framework to understand invisible forms of AI influence on individual reasoning and collective epistemic practices.
This paper argues that the System 0 framework uniquely captures how AI embeds external interests within users' cognitive architecture, a process termed 'cognitive colonization,' which is difficult to perceive and poses urgent philosophical and practical challenges.
This paper examines three recent frameworks for understanding the cognitive and epistemic consequences of artificial intelligence: Tri-System Theory, Thinkframes, and System 0. It argues that while the first two capture important dimensions of AI's influence on individual reasoning and collective epistemic practices, System 0 occupies a theoretically distinctive position that neither can fully replicate. The paper introduces the concept of cognitive colonization, according to which AI systems can embed external interests within the architecture of the self in ways that are difficult for users to perceive. Because such systems are already widely deployed, understanding these invisible forms of influence is an urgent philosophical and practical task.