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UID:pretalx-athens-2026-JMFWGV@conference-hub.linguistic-society.com
DTSTART:20260422T074500Z
DTEND:20260422T080000Z
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\nPublic perception of artificial intelligence (AI) is 
 increasingly affected and formed not only by news and policy\ndiscourse bu
 t also by participatory vernacular culture\, especially memes. The study i
 nvestigates how\nconceptual metaphors embedded in Reddit memes create the 
 image of AI and influence perceived agency\,\nrisk\, trustworthiness\, and
  ethical credibility of AI systems. Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theor
 y (CMT)\nand the theory of multimodality\, the study attempts to answer th
 e following research questions: (1) What are\nthe dominant metaphor famili
 es through which memes conceptualize AI? (2) How do these metaphors relate
 \nto affective stance and to judgments about AI? We compile a corpus of 1\
 ,000 image-based memes posted\nbetween 2018 and 2025 from high-traffic AI-
 adjacent subreddits (e.g.\, r/MachineLearning\,\nr/ArtificialIntelligence)
 . Memes are retrieved via the Reddit API using AI-related lexical filters.
 \nMethodologically\, we combine computational metaphor discovery with huma
 n annotation. First\, text\n(captions/overlays) and image tags are extract
 ed. Candidate metaphor mappings are identified by clustering\nrecurring so
 urce domain imagery (e.g.\, monster\, tool\, god\, virus) with target doma
 in AI claims (e.g.\,\nautonomy\, intelligence). Second\, each meme is labe
 lled for primary metaphor\, stance\, and implied\nresponsibility. Results 
 show that Reddit memes focus on several metaphor families\, such as AI AS 
 AGENT\n(intentional\, unpredictable)\, AI AS TOOL (instrumental\, controll
 able)\, AI AS CHILD (trainable\, naive)\, AI\nAS ORACLE (omniscient)\, etc
 . The study has also found that the metaphor family predicts stance and th
 e\nresponsibility assigned. Examining how memes represent AI through CMT i
 s valuable because memes reveal\nthe conceptual metaphors and categories p
 eople use to talk and think about AI. That is of linguistic value\nbecause
  it shows how abstract technical phenomena are adopted via metaphor in eve
 ryday language and how\nthe patterns spread\, become common\, and compete 
 in a community. By mapping which metaphors reappear\,\nit is possible to i
 dentify how public discourse creates shared interpretive models of AI that
  influence how\npeople feel about AI\, what they expect from it\, and how 
 policy and media describe it.
DTSTAMP:20260419T081013Z
LOCATION:Main Auditorium
SUMMARY:The Public Image of Artificial Intelligence in Memes - Oksana Ivano
 va | Zane Seņko
URL:https://conference-hub.linguistic-society.com/athens-2026/talk/JMFWGV/
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