The External Mahout: Distributed Regulation and AI

The article develops the Mahout metaphor, proposing the transfer of regulatory functions outside the human organism. The author argues that in the AI era, external systems can take over the role of meta-regulation, supporting metacognitive processes by monitoring behavior patterns and correcting actions. Drawing on Clark and Chalmers' theory of the extended mind and Edwin Hutchins' concept of distributed cognition, the text analyzes the transition from simple memory assistance to an advanced architecture of agency. In this model, AI is not merely a tool but a functional element of the system regulating human behavior, which challenges traditional anatomical understandings of the boundaries of the mind and self-regulation processes in the face of modern technological stimuli.