Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 7, 2024

 

Artificial Intelligence Literature and Its Challenge to the Conception of Modern Literature

(Abstract)

 

Li Guocheng

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) literature represents a novel fusion of literature and technology. It encompasses two paradigms—sequential and  connectionist—across distinct developmental stages. Concurrently, AI literature responds to the inherent demands of various avant-garde literary experiments since the early 20th century. Understanding and evaluating AI literature should extend beyond traditional humanistic literary concepts centered on emotions, inspiration, and creativity. Instead, it should be contextualized within the framework of post-human and post-literary developments since the latter half of the 20th century. Within this context, contemporary AI literature can be perceived as cyborg literature, harmonizing human and cyborg identities and offering cross-boundary potential in terms of human and machine perspectives, author and reader roles, and language and non-language texts. As a mode of linguistic information processing, AI literature has the potential to significantly expand the conceptual space and expressive forms of literature.