Algorithmic public opinion in the age of generative AI

Popular and scholarly critiques regarding the epistemic power of contemporary generative text AI tools raise some interesting questions in regard to Gandini et al.'s heuristic of algorithmic public opinion. This commentary therefore asks: what is the relationship between algorithmic public opinion and AI-generated text? Given the staggeringly fast uptake of generative AI tools, will social media platforms remain key players in the formation and circulation algorithmic public opinion, or does generative AI necessitate critical attention to a new kind of public opinion – one that is shaped, constituted and generated by AI?