Citizenship and Anonymity: Toward an Ethical Theory of the Artificial Intellect in Public Communication

The introduction of the artificial intelligence has already changed the main characteristics of public and interpersonal communication. ChatGPT is both a channel of communication and an equal participant in the communication process. In such a way, a correction is made in the classical models of communication, such as the ones of Schramm or Shannon-Weaver, where the sender, the receiver, and the channel are separate elements in the communication process. Moreover, the artificial intellect marks a new era in digital storytelling where anonymity predominates. AI accumulates stories, which at any moment can be combined with new stories, different points of view, and opinions. Thus, digital storytelling loses the personality of its narrators and becomes anonymized, and folklorized. This anonymity and collectivity are more characteristic of the traditional folk storytelling than of the digital storytelling on the Internet or on the social media. Together with the numerous advantages of AI, this chapter also studies some challenges in public communication, such as the interrelation between technology and psychological well-being, as well as the need for legal and ethical regulation of the use of smart chatbots.