Affective, cognitive, and contextual cues in Reddit posts on artificial intelligence

Abstract

Artificially intelligent technologies have become a common topic in our everyday discussions where arguments about the subject can take different forms from cognitive reasoning to emotional expressions. Utilizing persuasion theories and research on the appeal of content characteristics as the theoretical approach to examine affective–cognitive language, we investigated social media posts on artificial intelligence (AI). We examined Reddit posts from 2005 to 2018 referring to AI (N = 455,634) using automated content analysis tools. The results revealed that although both the tone positivity and affective–cognitive ratio were dependent on the specific context, the language in AI posts was more analytically than emotionally oriented in general. Other users were more likely to engage with Reddit posts on AI that were high in cognitive and analytic content compared to affective and emotional content. In addition to the practical contribution of public opinion on AI, the results contribute to the theoretical discussions on affective and cognitive language in social media discussions.