Abstract
The rapid development of conversational artificial intelligence has changed not only how people obtain information but also how they linguistically understand the technology with which they communicate. Users describe AI systems as tools, assistants, teachers, experts, study buddies, friends, and even as something between a machine and a person. Such expressions are not simple stylistic choices. They reveal different ways of conceptualizing the same technological system. The present study examines these conceptualizations from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. The study argues that the emerging concept of AI as a communicative partner is therefore structurally dynamic: AI may be construed as a tool in one interaction, a teacher in another, and a socially meaningful interlocutor in another. This finding is relevant to cognitive linguistics, pragmatics, human– machine communication, and the study of emerging digital discourse.References
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