A Human × Machine Paradigm: How Psychology Can (Re)shape the AI Landscape

This paper presents a vision on how psychology can position itself in a growing dominance of artificial intelligence (AI). To this end, we propose a Human × Machine paradigm that can help psychology (re)shape the AI landscape. We foresee a role for psychologists to represent the crucial human-in-the-loop, to ensure that, indeed, control remains with psychologists and its most critical stakeholders. We first provide a brief history of humans' fascination with machines to arrive at how AI impacts psychology today and the future challenges it will bring. Where AI implicitly brings back mechanistic thinking to psychology, we propose a way out through a triangulation rather than imitation game. To do so, we propose humachinism, a future paradigm by way of thought experiment. Through a philosophy of science analysis we raise the ontological, epistemological, axiological and methodological questions psychology will need to tackle. Finally, we outline a methodological framework for Human × Machine triangulation that bridges idiographic-nomothetic research, yet looks beyond scalability to amplification, validity and agency.