I’m happy to announce the publication of “A Copious Void: Rhetoric as Artificial Intelligence Version 1.0” in Rhetoric Society Quarterly. Here’s the abstract:
Rhetoric is a trace retained in and by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This concept illuminates how rhetoric and AI have faced issues related to information abundance, entrenched social inequalities, discriminatory biases, and the reproduction of repressive ideologies. Drawing on their shared root terminology (stochastic/artifice), common logic (zero-agency), and similar forms of organization (trope+algorithm), this essay urges readers to consider the etymological, ontological, and formal dimensions of rhetoric as inherent features of contemporary AI.
The essay is part of a special issue on the subject of rhetoric and artificial intelligence. I encourage you to check out the entire thing.
It features amazing work from Misti Yang (w/ Zoltan Majdik) about Wallstreetbets and the pathologic of rhetoric/AI, as well as by Bill Hart-Davidson (w/ Ryan Omizo), whose essay is about genre and fake writing detection. I got to hear about Emma Bedor Hiland’s essay on AI, writing, and time travel at NCA, where I was likewise floored by Kem-Laurin Lubin’s essay (w/ Randy Allen Harris) on reproductive tracking and ethopoeia. Casey Boyle’s response — where he embodies the writing position of a chatbot — is also up; it is reluctantly written, but also hilarious, insightful, and not to be missed. I’m so grateful to be alongside these folks in this issue.
Atilla Hallsby 