A design perspective on a recent Nature Communications article, and what it changes about how I think about AI tools in my daily practice. TL;DR. In May 2025, philosopher Andy Clark published "Extending Minds with Generative AI" in Nature Communications. His core argument: the fear that AI is making us dumber comes from a flawed self-image, not from the tools themselves. For product designers working with AI tools every day, this reframes the question from "will AI replace us

In early 2026, a groundbreaking paper titled "Artificial Intelligence and the Psychology of Human Connection" was published in Perspectives on Psychological Science . Authors Ryan L. Boyd and David M. Markowitz introduced a transformative framework known as MIRA . As product designers, we often concern ourselves with friction, conversion, and aesthetics. However, this paper signals a paradigm shift: AI is no longer just a tool we use; it is a relationship we experience. For