Abstract

The generative AI chatbot, as an artificial rhetorical agent participating in the invention and circulation of public discourse, shakes the foundations of rhetorical tenets such as agency, ethos, circulation, and justice; and in doing so, it further isolates rhetoric as amoral, ateleological technē concerned with mere calculated effects and consequences, and may ultimately contribute to a post-rhetoric condition. This article depicts a rhetorical profile of the generative AI chatbot characterized by stochastic rhetoric, which is distinguished from the conventional understanding of rhetoric as (human) conscious and purposeful use of language to induce change. Making a case for the possibility of a post-rhetoric condition, the article considers what it might mean for our conceptualization of ethos, circulation, and justice, and suggests ways of adapting to it.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2024-07-02
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2024.2351723
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Writing and Pedagogy
  4. College Composition and Communication
  5. Computers and Composition

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