Artificial Intelligence as a Medium: Ethical and Discursive Implications

Abstract

This paper analyzes artificial intelligence as a medium from the perspective of pragmatic media philosophy, focusing on its ethical and discursive implications in contemporary communication processes. Moving beyond instrumental views of technology, the study conceptualizes AI as a communication infrastructure that actively shapes meaning production, the distribution of visibility, and power relations within media environments. The study adopts a qualitative and interpretative approach based on conceptual analysis of interdisciplinary literature from media philosophy, platform studies, and empirical research on artificial intelligence in communication. Within this framework, the paper examines transformations of communicative practices, particularly in relation to authorship, responsibility, and persuasion, as well as key ethical dimensions such as power, surveillance, and transparency. Special attention is given to the discursive implications of AI, analyzed through the interconnected concepts of transparency, truth, and trust. The analysis shows that algorithmic and generative systems influence not only the content of communication, but also the ways in which credibility is assessed and trust is formed.

The findings suggest that ethical and discursive challenges cannot be reduced to isolated cases of misuse or technical limitations, but should be understood as structural effects of algorithmically mediated communication systems. The paper concludes that conceptualizing AI as a medium enables a deeper understanding of contemporary communication processes and highlights the need to integrate ethical reflection into everyday communicative practices, with particular emphasis on transparency, accountability, and the protection of user autonomy.