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Article In: Narrative Inquiry: Online-First Articles

“When ChatGPT remembers”

Co-authoring personal storytelling in Human-AI interaction

ORCiD logo with link | King’s College London
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Abstract
Existing studies on GenAI and storytelling show mixed results, often highlighting the systems’ limitations compared to human creativity. A key-gap in this emerging field is how personal stories are co-constructed between users and GenAI. Moving beyond a human vs. non-human binary, this paper explores storytelling as an interactional process. I present an auto-ethnographic study of a longitudinal co-construction of a personal crisis narrative with ChatGPT, focusing on the affordances of the feature of memory. Drawing on small stories and positioning analysis, I trace a shift from generic, alignment-based responses to forms of co-authoring that (re)frame evaluations and bring up ‘memory’ as a resource for knowing participation by ChatGPT. I show how the discursive positioning emerging from these contributions is hybrid, that of a therapist-friend. The discussion illustrates the value of applying practice-based, interactional approaches to the study of co-construction in GenAI narrative communication, as shaped by technological affordances.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Research design and data-set
  • Analytical framework
  • Analysis
  • Aligned contributions
    • Generic alignment
    • Alignment as validating and amplifying
  • Co-authoring
    • Co-authoring events
    • Co-authoring characters
  • Co-authoring as (re)framing
  • Co-authoring as projecting
  • Co-authoring and “memory”: A knowing participation resource
  • From alignment to co-authoring: Hybrid positioning as ‘therapist–friend’
  • Conclusion
    • Postscript
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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