College Composition and Communication Sep 2025

Weathering the Rhetorical Climates of AI

Dustin Edwards

Abstract

In a relatively short time, market and political forces have intensified the reach of artificial intelligence (AI). AI has become, in a word, climatic—not only a discrete technological system but also a creeping assemblage of ideological, material, and political forces. This article tracks these forces by developing rhetorical climates of AI as a conceptual framework. In doing so, I aim to (1) link the harms of climate change with the rapid buildout of AI infrastructure and (2) shift the frame of the conversation by emphasizing the extractive, exploitative, enclosed, and knotted supremacist conditions that have been prerequisites for building AI systems at scale. While these pervading rhetorical climates may seem unchangeable, I track how microclimates of resistance have developed, in the past and in the present. In particular, I emphasize the importance of bodily intelligence in navigating asymmetrical conditions of power felt in the AI industry. The article concludes by discussing how rhetoric and writing studies can weather the unfolding rhetorical climates of AI by diagnosing conditions, seizing moments, and plotting futures to imagine a less extractive and less harmful world.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2025-09-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc202577113
CompPile
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism artificial intelligence
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Buck (2026)
    Beyond paying attention: Praxis for critical digital literacy
    Computers and Composition

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