---
title: "Predictive Asymmetry"
description: "The central claim of Mutual Prediction in Human-AI Coevolution: imbalance in mutual predictive ability correlates with imbalance of power, across species (ticks out-predict hosts; humans out-predict dogs and wheat), artifacts (the smartphone models its user better than she models it) and AI."
type: "glossary-term"
canonical_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/terms/predictive-asymmetry"
md_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/md/terms/predictive-asymmetry"
last_updated: "2026-09-06"
site: "Antikythera Wiki"
---

# Predictive Asymmetry

> A working definition written for this wiki from the reading notes; not Antikythera's own wording. From Antikythera Wiki (https://antikythera.wiki/terms/predictive-asymmetry), an independent guide to Antikythera's published work.

The central claim of *Mutual Prediction in Human-AI Coevolution*: imbalance in mutual predictive ability correlates with imbalance of power, across species (ticks out-predict hosts; humans out-predict dogs and wheat), artifacts (the smartphone models its user better than she models it) and AI. Figure 1 (PDF only) plots human against AI predictive ability with a diagonal "balance line"; below it AI is a tool, above it humans become "the observed, modeled, and guided." The ELIZA case adds the corrective that position depends on technical knowledge and context, not cognitive capacity — designer and public occupy different coordinates for the same system — which is why asymmetry between user and *platform operator* needs separating from asymmetry between user and *model*.

## Appears in

- [Mutual Prediction in Human-AI Coevolution](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/coginfra/mutual-prediction-in-human-ai-coevolution) (2025-05-10)
- [Cognitive Infrastructures](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/coginfra) (2025-05-10)
- [The Stack](https://antikythera.wiki/work/book/the-stack) (2016-02-19)

_Glossary generated 2026-09-06._