Emphasizing Deliberation and Critical Thinking in an AI Hype World

2025-07-20

AI Summary

Amid the AI boom, “solutionism”—the uncritical prioritization of technological novelty over pedagogical and scholarly integrity—has proliferated. Method: This study advances a “Slow HCI” paradigm, integrating critical HCI theory, technology ethics, and reflexive methodology to conduct conceptual and normative inquiry. It advocates deliberate, context-sensitive evaluation over rapid technological deployment, foregrounding intentional decisions about technological engagement or abstention. Contribution/Results: The work elevates “deceleration” to a methodological principle for responsible innovation and systematically deconstructs the hegemony of AI’s instrumental rationality. It yields a theoretically grounded framework and actionable pathways for education and research to resist technological alienation, thereby enhancing the ethical rigor, contextual appropriateness, and epistemic autonomy of technology use. Ultimately, it catalyzes a paradigm shift in HCI—from efficiency-driven design toward value-sensitive, human-centered inquiry.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Bias, Fairness & Equity
• Humans and AI: Understanding People, Theories, Concepts and Methods
• Machine Learning: Ethics, Bias, and Fairness

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Fairness and ethical considerations in crowd work and in human-in-the-loop AI systems
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

AI solutionism is accelerated and substantiated by hype and HCI's elevation of novelty. Banning or abandoning technology is unlikely to work and probably not beneficial on the whole either -- but slow(er), deliberate use together with conscientious, critical engagement and non-engagement may help us navigate a post-AI hype world while contributing to a solid knowledge foundation and reducing harmful impacts in education and research.

Problem

• Addresses AI hype's impact on critical thinking
• Proposes deliberate AI use to reduce harm
• Challenges novelty-driven AI solutionism in HCI

Innovation

• Promoting slower, deliberate AI use
• Encouraging critical engagement with AI
• Reducing harmful impacts in education