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Reply to ‘Human–AI complementarity needs augmentation, not emulation’

Nature Reviews Psychology (2026)Cite this article

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Lin outlines several critiques of our Perspective (Gonzalez, C. & Heidari, H. A cognitive approach to human–AI complementarity in dynamic decision-making. Nat. Rev. Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-025-00499-x; 2025)1, centrally opposing the emulation of human cognition and arguing instead that human augmentation should be the goal (Lin, Z. Human–AI complementarity needs augmentation, not emulation. Nat. Rev. Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-026-00536-3; 2026)2. This critique reflects a misunderstanding of the conceptual and practical framework we propose.

In our Perspective, we argue that the goal of human–AI interaction is complementarity, not merely augmentation. Complementarity describes joint human–AI systems that perform differently from — and better than — either alone, because each adapts to the other and leverages distinct, synergistic strengths. We explain why emulating key human cognitive mechanisms, including their limitations, is essential for achieving complementarity. Importantly, we do not propose evaluating AI systems by their fidelity to cognitive theory, but by their ability to improve joint human–AI outcomes.

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References

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  1. Social and Decision Sciences Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Cleotilde Gonzalez

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  1. Cleotilde Gonzalez
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Correspondence to Cleotilde Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez, C. Reply to ‘Human–AI complementarity needs augmentation, not emulation’. Nat Rev Psychol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-026-00537-2

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