Large language models adapt the political unconscious and repress heteroglossia

This essay examines the ideological function of Large Language Models (LLMs) by analysing how they adapt existing texts when asked to produce fictional narratives. Rather than functioning as a form of Bakhtinian heteroglossia, a synthesis of multiple, diverse and centrifugal voices, the essay argues that LLM discursivity instead operates as part of a centripetal, ideological project that expresses the ideas of the ruling class. The study uses examples from a series of prompts given to Gemini, a Google-developed LLM, to generate stories about social problems such as poverty, revolution, and environmental disaster. The findings demonstrate that Gemini consistently adapted existing hegemonic narrative conventions that provide what Fredric Jameson calls an ‘imaginary resolution of a real contradiction’ (62). The essay concludes that the LLM presents its adaptational activity as an impartial synthesis of data qua ostensibly objective facts, obfuscating the reality that its adaptational activity is instead an expression of a political unconscious serving the interests of the ruling class. LLMs do not therefore articulate heteroglossia, but rather regurgitate the biases and values of dominant ideology.

Citation

Geal, R. (in press) Large language models adapt the political unconscious and repress heteroglossia. Adaptation.

Type

Journal article

Language

en

Description

This is an author's accepted manuscript of an article published by OUP on [date TBC} available online {link TBC}. The accepted manuscript may differ from the final published version.

ISSN

1755-0637

EISSN

1755-0645

Collections

Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences