Alienation of Thinking: Artificial Intelligence and the Crisis of Subjectivity
Stanislav Burmistrov
Under the slogans of “enhancement” and “obvious” economic benefits, artificial intelligence is being introduced into all spheres of life. Legitimate questions arise about the impact of this process on humans and its risks. What happens to human thinking when we delegate thought to the opaque logic of AI? How is this process exploited by digital capital? Drawing on empirical research from 2023–2026, the author introduces the concept of “alienation of thinking” and identifies its mechanisms: statistical normalization, language unification, sycophancy, and cognitive rent. These mechanisms, in turn, form an algorithmic monoculture, making non-standard thinking statistically improbable. The proposed three-level model of alienation – at the symbolic, reflexive, and social levels – describes the process through which a person loses independent thought. In the economic dimension of the process, it is shown that the crisis of subjectivity is not a side effect of technological adoption, but a regular, systemic result of platform capitalism, which requires a predictable, manageable user. As a way to preserve subjectivity, the concept of co-autonomy is proposed: maintaining linguistic diversity, restoring reflexive control, and designing a dialogical environment.