The reading on “Designing Agentive Technology: AI That Works for People”, describes the process of setting up an “agent” in the form of a Google alert. This alert allows the user to have the “agent” report back to them through email when a new item matching their predetermined search words appears. To me this interaction between the human counterpart and the AI “agent” helps me better understand agency as it feels like a human interaction. The interaction between the human and google alert “agent” reminds me of the only context I have encountered the word agent before; secret agent. To me the relationship between a human and their AI agent seems much like that of the relationship between a secret agent and their handler or case officer. Both have their own agency and the relationship is built on one reporting back information to the other. Agency is oartivulay interesting to consider in AI as traditionally agency has been a very human attribute. Although it seems that these agents are mainly human tools that require some human input, further AI agency seems to be the next step in the relationship between humans and technology. This progress continues to blur the line between what is human and what is a machine or technology.
I thought it was very clever how you related the way we are looking at agency to a secret agent. This actually helped me understand the concept better. This analogy did not only help me get a better understanding for the word but it also demonstrates how agency has evolved throughout time. What once was an interaction from human to human is now an interaction between human and technology. As technology advances more and more we see the evolution of processes just like how agency has evolved.