Dropping Anchor in Rough Seas: Co-Reasoning with Personalized AI Advisors and the Liberalism of Fear

Abstract In response to Benjamin Lang’s defence of “co-reasoning” with personalized AI advisors, this article formulates a political critique of the co-reasoning model through the lens of the liberalism of fear. This reframes the ethical aspiration to self-realization with the assistance of AI by embedding it within a realistic political setting. It suggests that before we seek to maximize the odds of self-realization, we should strive to minimize the odds of domination by others. After highlighting three power asymmetries involved in the co-reasoning model, the article argues that personalization risks stabilizing domination by translating structural injustices into individualized aspirational challenges. Three political constraints on personalized AI are then proposed: the priority of non-domination, the public contestability of operative norms, and the recognition of non-personalizable civic burdens.