Dissertation In Brief
My dissertation explored how AI can support human communication, especially for people whose ideas are not easily expressed through conventional writing.
The work led to the concept of cognitive equity: the idea that AI can help someone participate on the same rhetorical footing as their peers when a communication barrier would otherwise keep them from being fully heard.
What The Study Showed
At the center of the project was a simple but important question: can a large language model act like assistive communication technology rather than just a convenience tool?
In the case studied, the answer was yes. A young woman with Down syndrome produced the ideas for a church talk, and ChatGPT helped transform her draft into a clear, audience-ready version while preserving the meaning she wanted to convey.
That experience sharpened the dissertation’s larger lesson: AI is most valuable when it extends agency, reduces unnecessary load, and helps real people participate more fully.