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The role AI systems increasingly play as foundational layers that shape how problems are framed, rather than as instruments that execute predetermined tasks. Unlike traditional tools (which can be put away), cognitive substrates are embedded in institutional workflows and shape decision conditions continuously.
A calculator is an instrument—you use it and put it away. An AI system that preprocesses all customer inquiries before humans see them is a cognitive substrate—it shapes what the institution perceives and considers before any deliberation begins.
Section 2: Delegated Cognition as a New Institutional Condition