Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making
of Artificial Intelligence

J 2024

Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence

BINDER, Werner

Základní údaje

Originální název

Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence

Autoři

BINDER, Werner (276 Německo, garant, domácí)

Vydání

Cultural Sociology, London, SAGE Publications, 2024, 1749-9755

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Článek v odborném periodiku

Obor

50401 Sociology

Stát vydavatele

Velká Británie a Severní Irsko

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

URL

Impakt faktor

Impact factor: 1.900 v roce 2022

Organizační jednotka

Fakulta sociálních studií

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17499755221138720

UT WoS

000893986500001

Klíčová slova anglicky

AlphaGo; ambiguity of the sacred; artificial intelligence; cultural sociology; disenchantment; enchantment; genre theory; narrative analysis; purification; the sacred

Příznaky

Recenzováno

Změněno: 7. 3. 2024 12:40, Mgr. Blanka Farkašová

Anotace

V originále

As a social phenomenon, artificial intelligence (AI) is not just technically but also culturally constructed. This article investigates the meaning-making of AI in the case of AlphaGo by employing and refining cultural sociological narrative analysis. Building on Smith’s structural model of genre, whose horizontal axis reflects varying degrees of (dis-)enchantment, I propose an extended model of narrative genre, adding a vertical axis on the theoretical basis of Durkheim’s distinction between pure and impure sacred, to account for the empirical bifurcation between utopian and dystopian AI narratives. While critical approaches to AI, prevalent in sociology, tend to offer disenchanted narratives, my cultural sociological approach allows for the construction of a meta-narrative, which is able to capture not only enchantment as well as disenchantment but also purification and impurification as empirical processes that accompany the emergence and consolidation of new technologies. This approach is exemplified by a case study of AlphaGo, a Go-playing program utilizing machine learning and neural networks, which gained global prominence and cultural significance after beating a human grandmaster in 2016. Drawing on publicly available online data, this article investigates the discourses surrounding AlphaGo, focusing on its cultural construction through storytelling and genre. I not only show how characters and events were emplotted in different stories, which were in turn embedded in broader narratives about technological progress and AI, but also explain how the development of the main storyline was driven by in-game performances, audience expectations and collective representations. The article demonstrates the feasibility of a cultural sociology of AI and the usefulness of my extended model of narrative genre, which is not only applicable to AI discourses but other domains as well.

Návaznosti

MUNI/A/1567/2021, interní kód MU

Název: Society in times of crisis: Rationalization and its Social Effects

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Society in times of crisis: Rationalization and its Social Effects

Přiložené soubory

Binder_2022_-_Technology_as__Dis-_Enchantment.pdf

Požádat o autorskou verzi souboru

Citovat

BINDER, Werner. Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence. Cultural Sociology. London: SAGE Publications, 2024, roč. 18, č. 1, s. 24-47. ISSN 1749-9755. Dostupné z: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17499755221138720.

@article{2237519,
   author = {Binder, Werner},
   article_location = {London},
   article_number = {1},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17499755221138720},
   keywords = {AlphaGo; ambiguity of the sacred; artificial intelligence; cultural sociology; disenchantment; enchantment; genre theory; narrative analysis; purification; the sacred},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {1749-9755},
   journal = {Cultural Sociology},
   title = {Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence},
   url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17499755221138720},
   volume = {18},
   year = {2024}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 2237519
AU  - Binder, Werner
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TI  - Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence
JF  - Cultural Sociology
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SP  - 24-47
EP  - 24-47
PB  - SAGE Publications
SN  - 17499755
KW  - AlphaGo
KW  - ambiguity of the sacred
KW  - artificial intelligence
KW  - cultural sociology
KW  - disenchantment
KW  - enchantment
KW  - genre theory
KW  - narrative analysis
KW  - purification
KW  - the sacred
UR  - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17499755221138720
N2  - As a social phenomenon, artificial intelligence (AI) is not just technically but also culturally constructed. This article investigates the meaning-making of AI in the case of AlphaGo by employing and refining cultural sociological narrative analysis. Building on Smith’s structural model of genre, whose horizontal axis reflects varying degrees of (dis-)enchantment, I propose an extended model of narrative genre, adding a vertical axis on the theoretical basis of Durkheim’s distinction between pure and impure sacred, to account for the empirical bifurcation between utopian and dystopian AI narratives. While critical approaches to AI, prevalent in sociology, tend to offer disenchanted narratives, my cultural sociological approach allows for the construction of a meta-narrative, which is able to capture not only enchantment as well as disenchantment but also purification and impurification as empirical processes that accompany the emergence and consolidation of new technologies. This approach is exemplified by a case study of AlphaGo, a Go-playing program utilizing machine learning and neural networks, which gained global prominence and cultural significance after beating a human grandmaster in 2016. Drawing on publicly available online data, this article investigates the discourses surrounding AlphaGo, focusing on its cultural construction through storytelling and genre. I not only show how characters and events were emplotted in different stories, which were in turn embedded in broader narratives about technological progress and AI, but also explain how the development of the main storyline was driven by in-game performances, audience expectations and collective representations. The article demonstrates the feasibility of a cultural sociology of AI and the usefulness of my extended model of narrative genre, which is not only applicable to AI discourses but other domains as well.
ER  -

BINDER, Werner. Technology as (Dis-)Enchantment. AlphaGo and the Meaning-Making of Artificial Intelligence. \textit{Cultural Sociology}. London: SAGE Publications, 2024, roč.~18, č.~1, s.~24-47. ISSN~1749-9755. Dostupné z: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17499755221138720.

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