Co-constructing a Software Agent Utopia: User and Maker in the Discursive Construction of Amy Ingram

Abstract

Today, part of the control we have over our actions is substituted through the software agent. It is therefore important to realize how an understanding of the software agent is constructed through discourse. The aim of this thesis is to discover how maker and users discursively co-construct an understanding of the software agent. This study focuses specifically on the software agent Amy Ingram. Amy does the tasks of making appointments and scheduling meetings. X.ai, the company that makes Amy Ingram, and the users of its technology share their intentions and experiences through blog posts and comments on a Twitter page. This forms a corpus for this study, which is analyzed to answer the questions how X.ai’s software agent Amy Ingram is discursively co-constructed by user and maker, and if this co-construction contributes to a utopian discursive construction of the software agent. The discursive construction – the creation of an understanding through discourse – of the software agent is examined through a discourse analysis of the corpus. By contributing to the blog platform, the maker constructs a certain image of Amy. However, by also providing a Twitter page, the maker enables the users to discursively contribute to or contradict this image. This thesis concludes that, through the use of linguistic tools (e.g. configuration and personal pronouns) and the adoption of a utopian vocabulary, the maker and the users co-construct a common vision of Amy Ingram as an active agent with humanistic attributes. This study suggests that it is necessary to conduct more research regarding the terminology used to refer to artificially intelligent agents. Additionally, it is recommended that further research on multi-agency software agents should also consider the co-constructive influence of maker and user through discourse.