Paper Short Abstract:

AI folklore presents a facet of understanding what it means to be human in today's technological world. In my presentation, I will examine the attitudes and views of Estonian people regarding the use of AI technology in various areas of life based on the folklore of Estonian online communities.

Paper Abstract:

As a thinking and feeling being, human has been searching for meaningfulness and clarity in life and the world throughout the ages. René Descartes' centuries-old statement "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am") could also be transferred today to the philosophical baggage of, for example, artificial intelligence (AI). However, as long as AI does not have an independent consciousness, the task and privilege of making sense of life remains to humans.

AI folklore presents a facet of understanding what it means to be human in today's technological world. In my presentation, I will examine the attitudes and views of Estonian people regarding the use of AI technology in various areas of life based on the folklore of Estonian online communities. In addition, I will analyze what strengths and weaknesses emerge in people's dialogue with technology.

Based on the analyzed material, it can be said that the attitudes towards AI are mostly strongly polarized. The dominant narratives can be summed up by the keywords 'technological fascination' and 'technological fear'. As possible reasons following aspects can be mentioned. The vast majority of people do not understand the essential nature (and/or potentials) of AI, they do not have the opportunity to actively influence its possible developments, they do not see sufficient direct benefits for themselves from the use of this technology, etc. This can be the reason for deeply sceptic narrations. I also present typology of AI folklore based on Estonian data.