Skill Retention

Definition

Skill Retention examines skill retention within the broader domain of retention, development, transfer and recovery of human skill under automation.

Why this matters

Skill Retention can materially affect human agency, capability, belonging, livelihoods, culture, trust, resilience and long-term societal outcomes.

Research questions

Under which conditions does skill retention improve human and system outcomes, how do effects vary across populations and contexts, and what safeguards prevent dependency, exclusion, distortion or loss of agency?

Hypotheses

A transparent, participatory and human-directed approach to skill retention, with explicit safeguards and longitudinal evaluation, will improve skill retention; transfer; critical thinking; mastery; error detection; confidence calibration; recovery time compared with opaque, automation-first or short-term approaches.

Proposed methods

longitudinal skill testing; controlled automation exposure; deliberate-practice trials; transfer assessment; expert observation; recovery interventions; literature and policy review; expert and affected-user interviews; reproducibility testing; methods adapted specifically to Skill Retention

Stakeholders and beneficiaries

creators; cultural custodians; communities; educators; researchers; publishers; platforms; collecting societies; libraries; archives; museums; regulators; funders