THE HUMORIST AND POLITICS: A HEGEMONIC (IR)REVERENCE? A LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF HUMOROUS RADIO COLUMNS ON AI

Abstract

The humorist must be considered a central figure in the evolution of representations, since his ability to entertain is a force that generates new ideas, whether to maintain power or to challenge it. Thus, by giving the humorist a strong political role in the construction of new ideas, the research question that guides our study is: How do humorists frame the phenomenon of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, through their discourse, promote or challenge its hegemony? To answer this question, we analyze thirty humorous radio columns (2014–2023) dealing with AI. The coding follows the linguistic grid developed by Charaudeau (2006) and brings out two main trends in our results: The first aims to play down the technology and the negative issues associated with it, while the second refocuses the subject of humor on the perverse and hidden effects of this same technology.