Journal article
Agency Literacy: Rethinking Human Artificial Intelligence Relations in Socio‑Technical Contexts
Pūhau ana te rā: Tailwinds, Vol.4(3), pp.1-11
Aotearoa Futures Forum, 2026 (Christchurch, New Zealand, 19-Jun-2026)
2026
Abstract
This paper introduces Agency Literacy as an emerging competency for navigating hybrid human:AI systems. Contemporary socio‑technical environments increasingly distribute agency across humans, machines, organisational processes, and data infrastructures, creating challenges for leaders and practitioners who must interpret and act within these shifting configurations. While existing work in sociomateriality, Science and Technology Studies, and AI literacy highlights aspects of these dynamics, there remains a gap in practical, futures‑oriented capabilities that help individuals recognise and negotiate agency in real organisational contexts. This study addresses that gap by developing and validating six core capabilities that constitute Agency Literacy. The research draws on participatory futures methods, including embodied exploration, scenario‑based inquiry, and action learning, undertaken during a facilitated workshop at the 2026 Aotearoa Futures Forum. These methods enabled participants to encounter agency as a lived, relational phenomenon and to surface intuitive responses to hybrid human:AI scenarios. Findings show that Agency Literacy is learnable, experiential, and grounded in practice. The six capabilities: recognising distributed agency, understanding machine influence, knowing when to override or defer, designing norms, ensuring inclusion, and making power discussable, provide a foundation for ethical, anticipatory engagement with AI‑mediated systems. The paper argues that agency is not diminished by Artificial Intelligence but redistributed, raising critical questions about power, design, and responsibility. The implications of this work extend to organisational leadership, futures education, and the governance of socio‑technical systems.
Details
- Title
- Agency Literacy: Rethinking Human Artificial Intelligence Relations in Socio‑Technical Contexts
- Authors
- Elissa Farrow
- Publication details
- Pūhau ana te rā: Tailwinds, Vol.4(3), pp.1-11
- Conference details
- Aotearoa Futures Forum, 2026 (Christchurch, New Zealand, 19-Jun-2026)
- Publisher
- University of Otago
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.11157/patr.v4i3.115
- ISSN
- 2816-0622
- Copyright note
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991260051102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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