Gideon Nave and Steven Shaw on system 3 thinking, strategic delegation, cognitive surrender, and the ethics of AI in marketing (HAI Ep49)

Join Gideon Nave, Associate Professor of Marketing at Wharton, and Steven Shaw, postdoctoral researcher, as they unpack their influential work on 'system three' cognition—the idea of AI as an artificial thinking system. They explain the distinction between cognitive offloading and the deeper dangers of cognitive surrender when humans rely too fully on AI, and reveal both the improvements and risks this shift poses for our reasoning and critical thinking. Drawing from empirical research, the episode explores strategies for intentional AI use, the psychological and ethical implications for society, and why calibrated trust and thoughtful guardrails are now essential in automated decision-making.