Toward an Epistemology of AI: Observing Human-AI Systems through the lens of Second-Order Cybernetics
The need for theoretical reflection in AI practice
The rapid development of generative AI has created an unprecedented situation whose broader implications unfold in real-time, often outpacing our ability to comprehend their significance.This dynamic has sparked important conversations among thoughtful AI practitioners and researchers. Hamel Husain’s work on AI evaluation methodologies and his insights into the gap between technical metrics and real-world AI product development, and similar investigations by experts grappling with the gap between technical implementation and real-world impact point toward a crucial need: developing adequate theoretical frameworks for understanding what we’re building and how it relates to human experience.