1st Edition
Ethos, Technology, and AI in Contemporary Society The Character in the Machine
Bringing together expert rhetorical theorists and technologists, this book explores our current understanding of and attitudes toward ethos, credibility, trust, and technology. Recent advancements in technology, including the development of digital technologies, the growth of algorithmic machine learning and AI, and the circulation of disinformation in social media necessitate a re-evaluation of ethos. In this edited collection, contributors theorize how ethos is enabled, constrained, and reloaded through new communication technologies. Chapters address key philosophical questions concerning the rhetorical agency of modern communicating machines such as ChatGPT and digital assistants including Siri and Alexa. Assessing the relationship between ethos and technology reveals contemporary tensions and insecurities regarding issues including authenticity, trust, and authorship. The book demonstrates that the digitalization of technology is rapidly transforming our societies, transforming the dynamics of our interactions, and transforming the culture of our debates. The first of its kind, this book provides a thorough assessment of the character, role, and ethics of AI and technology. It will be of interest to students and scholars in the field of Rhetoric, Communication Studies, Technology Studies, Digital Humanities and Cultural Studies.
Tables of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: Ethos and technology in contemporary society
Aaron Hess and Jens Kjeldsen
Section 1: Modality and Circulation
2. Ethos+trust in a digital age, a case chronology
Laura J. Gurak and Jackie M. James
3. Ethos in the machine – the rhetorical character of AI
Jens Kjeldsen
4. Dwelling in Midjourney: Ethos, Learning, and The Open Region
E. Johanna Hartelius
5. Platform-Mediated Ethos Formation: Immigrants’ Perceptions of Authorities during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Maryam Alavi Nia
6. A Computation Method for Quantitative Analysis of Ethos
Katarzyna Budzynska, Marcin Koszowy, Ewelina Gajewska, Maciej Kulik and Maciej Uberna
Section 2: Sociotechnical Logics, Durability, and Circulation
7. The Gift of Character: Ethos in the AI Imaginary
Aaron Hess
8. Eros and Ethos in Celebrity Deepfake Pornography
Amber Davisson
9. 'We Have to Save the Children': Ethos, Digital Affordances, and the Call to Adventure in Reactionary Digital Politics
Alan Finlayson and Robert Topinka
Section 3: Automation and Modality
10. Large Language Models: Logos without Ethos
David J. Gunkel
11. Fact checkers, tech giants, and algorithmic systems: Between autonomy and automation in the relational and dispersed construction of ethos
Mette Bengtsson, Sabina Schousboe, Johan Farkas, and Anna Schjøtt Hansen
12. The ethos of automation: Strategy-as-rhetoric and the development of trustworthy clinical AI.
Prins Marcus Valiant Lantz and Sine Nørholm Just
13. Training Response-able Machines: The Cultivation of Social Ethos in Meta AI
Jamie Jelinek
Afterword
Celeste Condit
Index
Biography
Aaron Hess is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Communication in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University, USA. He is a co-editor of Readings in Rhetorical Fieldwork (Routledge, 2018) and Theorizing Digital Rhetoric (Routledge, 2017). Jens Kjeldsen is a Professor of Rhetoric and Visual Communication in the Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen, Norway.
