Artificial Intelligence and Narratives: Reflections on Playfulness, Communication, and War

Abstract Over the past century and into the present, drones have been employed consistently for reconnaissance missions and combat attacks, actions that fuel political narratives and drive the media landscape. These acts of aggression, in themselves, are a means of communication. In a similar fashion, artificial intelligence is able to manipulate information when creating and reproducing texts, images, videos, and social media profiles in automated ways, as well as mapping and moving through spaces in tangible or intangible ways. In this article, the authors examine how AI articulates narratives through the ludic nature of computing and robotics.