Building a methodological profile for communication’s study of the passive generation of information

Abstract As a communication revolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to rival the introduction of print in terms of the pervasiveness of its influence. Havelock (Havelock, Preface to Plato,1963; Havelock, The literate revolution in Greece and its cultural consequences, 1982) offers insights concerning how the effects of a shift from orality to literacy were driven by the printed word’s passive preservation of information. The introduction of AI affords an engagement of communication processes that represent the passive generation of information. An assessment of this technological change and its effects should be a central concern of contemporary communication research. This essay offers an overview of how the field’s expanding methodological toolkit can be utilized for a variety of AI-centered research agendas.