Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2025

Stochastic Publics: The Emergence and Ethics of AI-Generated Publics in Technical Communication

Jamie Littlefield

Abstract

The concept of a public—a group of strangers drawn together through their mutual attention to a text—has historically been tied to the notion of human intentionality. The recent popularization of artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (such as ChatGPT) destabilizes this connection. When large language models generate text, they may inadvertently form stochastic publics—groups pulled together through the randomization of biased data patterns drawn from AI training material. This exploratory study draws on a three-phase dialogue with OpenAI's ChatGPT 4 to identify the risks of stochastic publics and suggest human-originated interventions grounded in feminist care ethics.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
10.1177/10506519241280592
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality artificial intelligence technical communication multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Littlefield (2025)
    Social Mediations: Writing for Digital Public Spheres
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (12)

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Show all 12 →
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CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network →

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