Thinking with AI: The Potentials of Collaborative Intelligence

Collaborative intelligence approaches the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence not through delegation or competition, but through mutual contribution. The question then becomes: what new capacities for thinking, learning, and creating humans and AI might develop together?

Human-AI collaborations. Original design by Igor Omilaev.

Much of the discussion surrounding artificial intelligence today revolves around two main perspectives. On the one hand, AI is understood as an advanced tool that performs assigned tasks. On the other, growing expectations and concerns suggest that AI may eventually replace human labor and cognitive activities—or even surpass human capabilities altogether.

At first glance, these two perspectives appear quite different. Yet they share a common assumption. In both cases, the relationship between humans and AI is understood instrumentally, through the lens of capability and control. The debate often centers on how powerful AI is, how powerful it may become, and whether this power can ultimately remain under human control. In doing so, another possibility tends to be overlooked: viewing AI not as a substitute or a tool, but as a partner in thinking and learning.

Understanding (Artificial Intelligence) Power

At this point, it is worth noting that much of the debate around AI is rooted in a particular understanding of power. Often referred to in the literature as "power over," this perspective defines power as the capacity of one actor to influence, control, or dominate others. Viewed through this lens, the central question becomes: Will AI gain power over humans?

Within this framework, AI is imagined either as a tool that must be controlled or as a competitor that may eventually replace human beings. The dystopian future scenarios frequently portrayed in popular culture largely rest on this assumption. The relationship is understood primarily in terms of domination, or resisting against it.

Yet many scholars of power have argued that power cannot be reduced to a one-dimensional form, exercised over others. The "power to" approach defines power as the ability to act, create, and develop capacities. "Power with," in turn, highlights the relational dimension of power that emerges through cooperation, mutual learning, and collective action.

When AI is approached from this perspective, a different question emerges. The issue is no longer whether AI will replace human beings, but rather what new capacities for thinking, learning, and creating humans and AI systems might develop together.

This perspective makes it possible to view AI not merely as a tool or a potential rival, but as a partner in thinking and learning.

Collaborative Intelligence

The concept of collaborative intelligence approaches the relationship between humans and AI not through delegation or competition, but through mutual contribution. The goal is not to transfer the responsibility of thinking to machines. On the contrary, AI can help expand the boundaries of human thought by offering alternative perspectives, making assumptions visible, developing alternative scenarios, and building connections across disciplines.

This approach is becoming increasingly relevant in education. Using AI solely to generate assignments, reports, or presentations may weaken learning processes. By contrast, when students and researchers use AI to develop ideas, critically evaluate arguments, test assumptions, explore creative possibilities, and deepen conceptual understanding, the learning experience can be significantly enriched.

Similarly, in creative work, the value of AI lies not only in producing content but also in making new possibilities visible. For artists, researchers, designers, and entrepreneurs, AI can function as a collaborator that sometimes reveals unexpected connections, sometimes brings overlooked questions into view, and sometimes helps challenge established patterns of thought.

For this reason, one of the critical skills of the future will not simply be the ability to use AI tools. More importantly, it will involve the ability to engage these systems in meaningful dialogue; to formulate better questions; to evaluate their suggestions; and to interpret emerging ideas within their ethical, social, and ecological contexts.

At Common Horizons, we see artificial intelligence neither as an actor destined to replace humans nor as a technology concerned solely with efficiency. Instead, we propose understanding it as a relational capacity that can support processes of learning, creativity, and collective thinking.

Perhaps the question we should be asking today is not:

What can AI do for us?

but rather:

What new ways of thinking and learning can we develop together with AI?

This perspective may sound promising. Yet it immediately raises a more practical question:

What does it actually mean to treat AI as a thinking partner?

More specifically: How can a student, researcher, artist, educator, or entrepreneur cultivate this relationship in their everyday practice? What is the difference between using AI as a system that works on our behalf and thinking together with it?

In the next article, we will explore these questions and examine some practical ways of building collaborative relationships with AI.