Narrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2023: An Estonian Case Study on AI Lore

Abstract

With the rapid emergence of new technologies in contemporary societies, new reflections of human experience arise. One of the recent technologies introducing massive changes in human life as well as in human reactions is artificial intelligence (AI). In the spring of 2023, about six months after the text-based AI ChatGPT was made available to the masses (Pistilli 2023), the public discussion about AI was most intense in Estonian society. The aim of this article is to analyse the narrative motifs and ways of narrating (including a proposed typology) AI-related topics in the Estonian mainstream and alternative online media chat groups in May and September 2023 respectively. Six general types of narration on AI were detected. The collected material showed that Estonian AI lore is considerably polarised between strongly negative and positive stories. Especially during the first wave of AI discussion in May 2023 the majority of narratives had negative or doubtful tonality. One of the factors that triggers a negative or cautionary tone in AI lore seems to be the lack of transparency in AI development. In addition to AI story types, this article tries to map the archetypes of plot characters (actants) of AI lore based on Propp’s classification of fairy tales which distinguishes between seven behavioural patterns. In addition, this study revealed a specific fluidity beyond genre boundaries that has also been observed in urban legends.