The rise of large language models
Challenges for Critical Discourse Studies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6784751 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Gillings (0000-0002-6114-0117, Vienna University of Economics and Business, corresponding author), Tobias Kohn (0000-0002-9251-8944, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Gerlinde Mautner (0000-0002-5529-3184, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 625-641 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Discourse Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-5904 • E-ISSN: 1740-5912 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17405904.2024.2373733 |
| OpenAlex | W4400526295 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 45 |
Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT are opening up new areas of research and teaching potential across a variety of domains. The purpose of the present conceptual paper is to map this new terrain from the point of view of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). We demonstrate that the usage of LLMs raises concerns that definitely fall within the remit of CDS; among them, power and inequality. After an initial explanation of LLMs, we focus on three key areas of reflection. The first is a general stock-taking, where we look at CDS’ theoretical underpinnings and what they imply for working with AI-generated language data. The second issue is authorship, where we assess the traceability of linguistic metadata and the ethically sensitive situation with regard to ownership of texts. The third area is linguistic homogenisation, where we examine how LLM usage privileges the mainstream. Afterwards, we explore ways in which LLMs could be used in research, and we discuss the implications of exploring their use in the classroom through a CDS lens. We close the paper with some observations on likely future developments in AI and how CDS can contribute with its distinctive theoretical, methodological and critical apparatus
Epistemology · Mainstream · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Text Readability and Simplification · Topic Modeling
Is Artificial Intelligence Racist?
The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies
Algorithms of Oppression
The ethics of ChatGPT – Exploring the ethical issues of an emerging technology
ChatGPT for Language Teaching and Learning
Climbing towards NLU
What if the devil is my guardian angel
Discourse and social change
The Discourse of Customer Service Tweets
The steep cost of capture
Concordancing for Cads
Assessing the potential of LLM-assisted annotation for corpus-based pragmatics and discourse analysis
Artificial intelligence and the public arena
Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis
Mining large corpora for social information
Toward a Sociology of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence and Democracy
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |