The Digital Panopticon: Artificial Intelligence and Cultural Studies Perspectives on Dan Brown's Origin

This study analyzes Dan Brown’s Origin via the critical framework of cultural studies, focusing on the convergence of artificial intelligence, surveillance, and the Foucauldian notion of panopticism. Brown's story positions AI not merely as a technological artifact but as a cultural force influencing human belief, power, and epistemology. Consequently, the novel serves as a rich terrain for examining the cultural fears related to automation, control, and the posthuman situation. The research contextualizes Origin within the expansive fields of cyberculture and media studies, examining how its portrayal of AI mirrors current discussions on algorithmic governance, digital surveillance, and the evolving nature of authority in interconnected society. The study posits that Origin represents a cultural bargain connecting transcendence and technological determinism by drawing connections between the disciplinary processes of the medieval panopticon and the algorithmic oversight shown in Brown’s fictitious AI system. This work highlights how popular fiction simultaneously reflects and analyzes the cultural changes brought about by artificial intelligence in the digital era.