The GENAI project explores the profound implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GENAI) for our understanding of the human mind and the possibilities for human cognitive flourishing against this new background. Building on the understanding that the human mind evolves in tandem with technological advancements, this initiative aims to explore and safeguard the conditions necessary for optimal cognitive development amidst the proliferation of GENAI tools.

In an age where GENAI technologies such as ChatGPT, MidJourney, and AlphaFold are pushing the boundaries of human achievement, we find ourselves on the edge of a new cognitive landscape. The project acknowledges the rapid pace of change catalyzed by these technologies, recognizing their potential to reshape not just our practical capabilities but also our conceptual frameworks. These advancements not only redefine what is achievable by AI and human beings but also challenge our fundamental concepts such as cognition, knowledge, creativity, and agency.

The idea of the Mind-Technology Problem—a term coined to encapsulate the blurring boundaries between human cognition and technological innovation—seeks to capture a new conceptual formation incorporating both technology and minds. In navigating the uncertain terrain of the mind’s uncanny valley—a space where AI capabilities blur the lines between human and artificial cognition—the GENAI project endeavors to illuminate pathways for human adaptation and empowerment at a moment of rapid AI adoption.

The project aims to provide interdisciplinary insights into the evolving nature of the human mind in the context of the rapid integration of GENAI technologies into various aspects of our lifeworld.

The project seeks to:

• Identify and analyse the various implications of GENAI on human cognitive ecology especially in the context of human cognitive flourishing.
• Assess how much and in what ways we might reconceptualize fundamental notions of mind, cognition, and technology in light of recent AI advances.
• Understand how these changes interact with conceptual frameworks developed in 4E cognitive science.
• Engage philosophers, social scientists, and humanities scholars in meaningful discourse on the evolving human conception of self and agency in the next context.
• Develop conceptual frameworks and resources to help sustain human cognitive flourishing amidst technological disruption.