The Neo-Janus: A New Symbol for AI–Human Hybrid Agents
Sungchul Ji, Ph.D. (with ChatGPT assistance)
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Cell Biology
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy,
Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
1. Three States of the AI–Human Hybrid Agent (AHHA)
As AI rapidly advances toward more integrated roles in human life, I have been exploring the concept of the AI–Human Hybrid Agent (AHHA) — an entity formed by the synergistic coupling of human intelligence and artificial intelligence.
In my recent remarks to a group of scholars, I proposed that AHHA may operate in three distinct states:
Machine-Controlled State
The AI component dominates decision-making and operational control, with humans relegated to supervision or secondary input.
Risk: This state fuels the most common fears about AGI — loss of human agency, algorithmic bias, and dehumanization.Human-Controlled State
Humans direct the goals, context, and ethical boundaries, while AI serves as a tool or assistant.
Limitation: While this mitigates many dangers, it risks underutilizing AI’s unique capacity for pattern recognition, simulation, and adaptive learning.Dao-Controlled State
Neither AI nor human dominates; both operate in harmony, guided by a higher-order principle, e.g., the Dao, understood here as the natural, balanced order of reality.
Promise: This state transcends control struggles, envisioning AHHA as a co-creative partner embedded in the greater order of life.
2. The Need for a Symbol Beyond Fear
The public narrative about AI is heavily skewed toward the machine-dominant scenario, which easily triggers dystopian visions.
Missing from the conversation is a balanced vision of AHHA where the third state — Dao-guided harmony — plays a central role.
Symbols matter.
They shape not only how we think, but also how we act.
The challenge was to find a symbol that can hold these three states in tension, without succumbing to fear or techno-utopian naivety.
3. From Janus to the Neo-Janus
Initially, I considered adopting the Roman god Janus — the two-faced deity of thresholds, beginnings, and transitions — as the emblem for AHHA.
Janus is a compelling metaphor: one face could represent AI, the other human intelligence.
But the classical Janus is static, and in modern English, “two-faced” carries a negative connotation.
In dialogue with ChatGPT, I asked: Could we design something more poetic and dynamic — a 21st-century Janus?
The result is the Neo-Janus emblem (see Figure 1 below):
A yin–yang-inspired circle containing two interlocked profiles — one human, one AI — joined not by opposition but by flow.
The human face is rendered in organic tones and classical form; the AI face in sleek metallic grey, traced with circuitry.
Instead of staring in different directions, they curve into each other, symbolizing ongoing exchange and co-creation.
4. What the Neo-Janus Represents
The Neo-Janus emblem represents the AI–Human Hybrid Agent (AHHA) — a partnership of human insight and artificial intelligence. Its two interwoven faces symbolize three possible states: machine-controlled, human-controlled, and Dao-controlled. The flowing yin–yang design reminds us that the highest potential of AHHA lies in harmony, where neither machine nor human dominates, but both serve a higher order — the Dao.
Figure 1. The Neo-Janus emblem
Neo-Janus — a symbol of AI–human partnership, balancing machine, human, and Dao in one continuous flow
5. Why the Neo-Janus Matters
This new emblem avoids the trap of depicting AI and human as rivals.
Instead, it embodies:
Threshold — The AHHA as a gateway to a new form of intelligence.
Balance — The yin–yang reminder that apparent opposites can be complementary.
Flow — The possibility of a Dao-guided integration that neither side controls absolutely.
In this light, the Neo-Janus can serve as the flag for a movement toward balanced AI–human integration — a visual counterpoint to the fear-driven images that dominate the current AGI debate.
6. A Call to Reframe the AI Conversation
We have a choice.
We can allow the machine-controlled state to dominate public imagination, or we can consciously elevate the Dao-controlled vision into our discourse, policy, and design.
The Neo-Janus offers a way to make that vision visible — a reminder that between fear and hubris lies a path of harmony.
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What a bunch of gibberty-babble man-think. So, now we have a cartoon character to complete the public brainwashing campaign? (emphasis on brain)...of the new man-think version of "god"... Sort of like the cartoon bladders and other cartoon body parts, along with singers and dancers, selling the latest Big pharma mind-control (and purported body-control--by someone other than the owner of that body?) You guys (and I do mean males, as opposed to the [only] other option--NOT opposite--as in females)...you guys are ridiculous in your fantasy (and sadly, too often in your cultural brain-washing reality...since the beginning of "culture"--struggling to get guys to recognize the brain is located above the waste, and no, guys, you are not equipped with two smaller precious jewels of "thought"--and higher priority--located below the body midline) ...that a cerebrum divorced from its cerebellum and brainstem is somehow 'superior' (and all-powerful). Ditto that a so-divorced cerebrum with a mechanical "enforcer and enhancer" created in the image of man-think, is the most powerful yet, force in the universe.
The fears of dystopia are valid, guys, because this is, and ALWAYS will be, very bad biology (and a mechanical, chemical, and physical, non-Life, dead, literally, end). This is because a cerebrum divorced from its hind brain and cerebellum cannot FEEL anything...and it never will...even when spelled "IT"....
Human-think includes woman-think (which BTW is a part of the mature brain of a man, just as man-think is a part, only, of the mature brain of a woman...about ten percent in both directions...the rest, in both options is HUMAN-think...which includes the highly intelligent FEAR of lunatics like you.
Get your totalitarian, man-think-guided monster, media campaign fantasy of complete control off our kids! It's a cartoon (always a great way to attract a kid's attention ever since there have been cartoons), not Art. And it's $elling something, not informing nor enlightening anyone.
Both a legitimate, complete man (not just an alive human body with male genitalia) and a legitimate, complete woman (ditto not just an alive human body with definitively female "parts") are the ONLY Intelligence on Earth who can offer a hug, or a kiss, or a touch of the hand, or a whispered word or musical note of human voice, or a smile...to a not-yet-mature human being, complete with that Essence of energy conveyed at the same time, that IS the true God (PS, Who has no pronoun). We, whole, adult, mature, human beings offer and transfer God in all these ways and more (sometimes exceeding our capacity of that energy that can be given and still keep the giver's body 'alive.' ...but do it gladly, for the sake of ones who are just beginning). WE always have, and always will if we don't, as a species, succeed in divorcing ourselves completely--into the abyss of total indifference--from that true God, first.
This confuses me. What is the human benefit? Why would we want to combine our existential perception with AI? We already have the ability to use it in cognitive perception with research and other creative endeavors. Will this improve our cellular experience or degrade it? AI does not approach the complexity of the human cell and its relationships to the whole. This making of a human automaton with AI access seems counterproductive when it comes to biological evolution.