The episcope Glossary

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AI brain fryFatigue from supervising AI beyond your capacity.BCG, 2026

Automation versus augmentationAI as substitute for work, or as extension of it.Brynjolfsson, 2022

Blurred accountabilityResponsibility drifting to the machine because of its name.Kropp et al., 2026

Cognitive debtJudgment eroding when task and responsibility both go to AI.Kosmyna, 2025

Cognitive new dealEvery AI use is an exchange whose terms go unread.

Cognitive offloadingDelegating a mental task to an external tool.

Cognitive surrenderAccepting AI output with minimal or no scrutiny.

Cognitive taxThe cost paid at the moment of delegation.episcope, 2026

Desirable difficultiesFriction that feels bad and produces durable learning.Bjork, 1994

Efficiency-gain illusionOverestimating what AI saved you, specifically for AI.Yu et al., 2026

Irony of automationAutomate the routine, lose the practice, keep the emergency.Bainbridge, 1983

Joy of Not Automating (or JONA)Keeping something by hand, meaning without AI, because doing is the point.episcope, 2025

Overreliance feedback loopUsing AI once makes you likelier to use it again, and worse at judging whether you should.Yu et al., 2026

WorkslopA polished AI-generated piece that wrongly gives the impression of a job well done.Niederhoffer et al., 2025

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The glossary is free and it stays that way. If you want to work through what it means for your own team, twenty minutes is usually enough to tell whether there is something here for you.

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