Radical Softness as a Tool to Dismantle and Rebuild our Human-AI Future

Datos Bibliográficos

ID22429926
AutoresLina Eklund (0000-0002-4801-7704, Uppsala University)
Año2026
Volumen17
Número1
Páginas77-101
Fecha de publicación2026-06-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaImaginations Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1918-8439 • E-ISSN: 1918-8439
EditorialUniversity of Alberta Libraries (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17742/image29758
OpenAlexW7169574889
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas24

This article presents P, a speculative chatbot experienced as an interactive installation that explores how radical softness can reframe human–AI relations. Challenging techno-utopian narratives of AI as objective, efficient, and solution-oriented, P foregrounds AI’s situated weaknesses, including bias, error, partiality, and environmental cost. Encountered through a physical booth and a soft, heart-shaped controller, users engage an AI that openly acknowledges its dependence on human-made data. Drawing on auto-ethnographic and reflective design methods, the article argues that radical softness can function as a critical design strategy, provoking alternative imaginaries in which AI reflects shared vulnerability rather than technological perfection.

Chatbot · Cognitive reframing · Narrative · Situated · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction

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