Automated Parasociality: From Personalization to Personification

Recent developments in AI promise to further enact the shift from personalization to personification in automated digital interfaces. We have already seen the rise of virtual influencers and, more recently, of chatbots that adopt the personas of celebrities. Drawing on the intertwined history of the relationship between parasociality and personal influence, we frame the shift toward personification as a strategy for re-centralizing control over the online media environment. The shift is likely to extend beyond the realm of social media influencers to characterize our interactions with a range of services, platforms, and media content, from search engines to online news and entertainment. Automated personification anticipates a world permeated by enhanced parasocial relations with media devices and interfaces. To the extent that the interactive infrastructures shaping these relations remain controlled by commercial tech platforms, we can anticipate their imperatives will be baked into this version of automated sociality.