AI companies and evangelists frequently use terms such as co-pilot, co-worker, co-creator and co-scientist to imply these rapidly developing systems can happily co-exist with us humans. Their inference is clear: people should always be in the loop – the AI is never in charge.

But amid stories of AI models going rogue and the prospect of recursive self-improvement (when AIs can improve themselves), is this form of language still appropriate – or a linguistic smokescreen we should be wary of?

In my career researching science, language and society, I have studied the use of “co” and other linguistic trends used by AI companies to describe and market their products.

The humble prefix “co”, derived from the Latin preposition “com”, means “together”, “mutually” or “in common”. But what seems linguistically unremarkable can, in the modern context of AI systems, convey a lot of interesting – and potentially misleading – meanings.

While “AI assistant” implies a subordinate role and “AI agent” real autonomy, “co” evokes shared agency and joint ownership of a task. This makes it strategically ambiguous.

An AI co-product can be sold to investors as capable and autonomous, thus justifying its price and ambition. At the same time, it can be sold to users and regulators as safely subordinate, reassuring them........

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