Complaining as a face-threatening act: A look into AI complaints

Abstract

This paper aims to conduct an analysis of the complaints as provided by an AI tool, ChatGPT. First, an overview of complaining speech act as a face-threatening act is provided regarding the multiple ways how it is defined and classified, as well as its relation to directness levels. Second, the complaining-realizing strategies with a wide range of modification devices have been summarized and applied as frameworks for scrutinizing AI complaints. Third, the perusal of the complaints gathered from ChatGPT indicates its general adherence to the three-part structure of complaining set, Buffer, Complaint, and Negotiation. The analysis also recorded the implementation of modification tools to show concerns for the interlocutors’ faces.