Slang & Culture
AI drift
The gradual wearing-away of human abilities — thinking, writing, relationships, judgment — as people hand more of daily life to AI. Not to be confused with 'model drift', where a machine learning model's accuracy slips over time.
Origin
Popularized in September 2026 by the Center for Humane Technology's "Stop the AI Drift" subway and social-media campaign in New York; its strategy director Camille Carlton defined it as "the gradual erosion of human abilities as AI takes on more of our daily lives." The name deliberately plays on the older technical term 'model drift'. It is an advocacy term, not a research finding.