Secret cyborgs
plural noun
Employees who use AI extensively but keep the assistance quiet, often because revealing the machine’s contribution feels uncomfortably close to revealing how replaceable the task might be.
Also known as hidden AI users
Secret cyborgs are employees who use AI extensively but keep the assistance quiet. Ethan Mollick’s term captures the most capable users hiding the very practice that makes them capable, often because admitting how much the machine contributed feels uncomfortably close to admitting that the task might be replaceable.
The secrecy leaves everybody else with the polished result and none of the method: no prompts, corrections, failed drafts or judgement calls. Organisations cannot learn from work they are not allowed to see being made.
It also helps poor habits spread. The careful users hide their checking. The careless users hide that they did not check. Soon the whole office is working with the machine and pretending it is not.
Where it comes up in the sources
Works in the library that use this word. Matched on the word itself, so it is a starting point rather than a reading list.