Call for Book Chapters: Generative Artificial Intelligence and Discourse

Call for Book Chapters: Generative Artificial Intelligence and Discourse

 

On the anniversary of the birth of the discursive moment surrounding ChatGPT 3, followed by versions 3.5 and 4 and other generative AI’s systems, we are pleased to invite collaborators for an interdisciplinary chapter proposals on Generative AI and discourse from various angles for a book project to be submitted to Palgrave in 2024.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when human society was most connected to the digital world, the emergence of ChatGPT 3 in the fall of 2022 gave rise to a prominent discursive moment towards the end of December 2023. A discursive moment is an event or occurrence that results in a sudden and intense surge of discourse and media production. ChatGPT is an "open" generative artificial intelligence platform (Open AI), accessible to everyone at a basic level in several countries, and based on algorithmic programming that creates a “dialogue" effect. Technically, thanks to statistical probabilities of included discourses and upon the user's command or question, GPT 3 aggregates the sum of information spread on the Internet and generates coherent and informative syntheses. 

Throughout the year 2023, media outlets, institutions, and scientific communities/spheres, across different disciplines, have continuously devoted a portion of their formal and informal discourses to describing GPT and generative AI technologies and popularizing them, as well as analyzing their affordance, benefits, risks, and impact on various sections of the community. Meanwhile, improved AI-enhanced commercial products proliferated (recently, Google's Gemini in December 2023). Hence, AI and the discursive moment on AI continue to exist in our societies and warrant a deeper analysis of this technology/science in relation with societies from different angles.

Upon delving into academic literature, we find - not surprisingly - analyses that assert two dominant ideological macro-themes in humanities discourses on AI: utopian and dystopian (e.g., Bearman et al., 2023). These analyisis further highlight an imbalance in the proportion of each typology depending on the issuing body of these discourses, nourishing the imaginary of public sphere and institutions in a different direction. The utopian position with a positive rhetoric is found in the discourse practice of most global governance institutions (Nermorin et al., 2022). In contrast, the dystopian discourse is more present in the monographs of researchers in the humanities (e.g., Chavalarias, 2022; Bronson, 2022; O'Neil, 2016). The contrast between neutral or positive titles of governance institution publications and monographs containing stylistic figures with a negative connotation also deserves  attention (e.g. Toxic Data, The Immaculate Conception of Data, Weapons of Math Destruction). Most utopian discourses support the potential of AI to improve access to knowledge and learning. They encourage exploring the capacities to be developed in humans in a world with AI. Hence, institutional transformation is encouraged. The dystopian position, on the other hand, relies on the Habermasian concept of truth-ethics, clarity, sincerity, and legitimacy (Habermas, 1984), on the Foucauldian concept of control and the power-knowledge relationship (Foucault, 1989), as well as on the Deleuzian concept of the omnipresence of productive or ‘desiring machines’ and the reinforcement of the question of transforming humans into those desiring machines (Deleuze, 2013). These publications alert us to the ethical stakes of AI, the risk of digital colonialism, the weakening of small businesses, the riskiness for education, the manipulation of ideas, and the threat against democracy. Cukier et al. (2003) emphasize that dystopian discourses are less numerous in the media and in official institutional reports. In a discourse analysis of official reports, Nemorin et al. (2021) highlight the economic and competitive issues underlying those encouraging and promotional reports.

In addition, several informal management and professional discourses on artifact/affordance of the generative AI in a non harmful way is ongoing.  Generative AI, understood as a "technical infrastructure with a specific hardware capability and semiotic toolbox, media infrastructure and concrete communication methods", could improve work efficiency and worker productivity across various domains.

In this context, the objective of this collective work is to partially map the anatomy of these discourses by deepening the utopian and dystopian dichotomy, both contextually, sociologically, as well as semantically, rhetorically, and comparatively. It also seeks to examine the effects of generative AI, viewed as a toolbox, on various professions, including, but not limited to, discourse analysis.

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Objectives 

Generative Artificial Intelligence and its capabilities as a tool for multimedia productions (text, images, audio) create tensions at different levels of sense-making behavior, knowledge production, global and local power imbalances, practices and phenomena of social and cultural inclusion and exclusion, along with the discourses that surround it.

This leads us to the following questions: How is AI materially and discursively constructed, and how can it create an asymmetric - symmetric -  power relationship? How does discourse impact the reality of AI adoption in different fields and societies? What is absent in AI materiality and discourses around AI? How can discourses optimize the integration of artificial intelligence in society to foster feasible, enriching and constructive experiences, while addressing governance, ethical, social and cultural issues? Finally, how can AI influence the job market and the nature of work, including the role of a discourse analyst? 

The specific goals of this book project are to: 

• map and compare, even partially, the anatomy of the complex tensions around AI and discourses from different countries with diverse cultures for the purpose of cultural and political comparisons
• develop interdisciplinary, analytical and nuanced perspectives on how AI materiality and discursively are constructed, defined, and represented in different corpora, mediums, and contexts.
• reflect on the materiality of artificial intelligence artifact and its impacts on discourse production, distribution, reception and on the job market and the nature of work such as discourse analysts tasks.
• provide a valuable picture of a complex social and cultural situation and strategic rhetoric of institutions and media in regard to AI technology at a given time.
• place the results into practice in today's and tomorrow's formal and informal institutions and communities. 

The volume aims to apply different methodologies and theoretical perspectives in a coherent and innovative manner. 

Thematically, the subjects of proposed chapters can be theoretical, practical, rooted in various disciplinary traditions, and relate to  various areas such as education, management studies, media and communication, disciplinary knowledge, etc.

The volume envisions contributions that can explore one or more of the following themes, but are not limited t

• AI and discourse asymmetries, power dynamics
• AI and information generation, communication and  truth
• AI as a material device for professionals
• AI and human behaviour
• AI and organizational learning 
• AI and socio-cultural asymmetries 
• AI and economic divides (local/global)

A discursive analysis on AI in different corpora and settings (journalistic media, social media, official reports, institutional policies, institutional daily practices), textual or conversational, from different countries inspiring different cultures is encouraged. 

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Book structure

The structure of the book will be defined based on received proposals.

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Submission Guide

• Researchers are invited to submit an article proposal of 1,000 words, clearly situating the objective, the problem, and the methodology of their project, to bkaramif@uottawa.ca & valentac@yorku.ca, by February 18, 2024.

• We accept proposals in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. 
• The decision will be communicated to the authors by April 30, 2024.
• Further guidelines (e.g. word count, final deadline for submitting full chapters) will be communicated once the abstract proposals are accepted and after the final response of Palgrave editions.
• The final manuscripts will be peer reviewed.
• There is no submission fee.