What’s in a bot? Tracing epistemic differences across expert discourses

Automated social agents-bots-are increasingly central to digital environments, yet definitions of what constitutes a bot vary across expert communities. This article analyses how bots are conceptualised in academic and technological discourse by examining scholarly publications (Scopus) and developer discussions (Stack Overflow). Using computational methods, including keyword-in-context analysis and topic modelling, we trace epistemic differences in bot definitions across disciplines. Findings reveal structural discursive silos, with technical fields emphasising functional properties and social sciences focusing on sociotechnical entanglements. These definitional divergences have implications for research, regulation, and governance in an era of AI-driven automation.