Say what you want: Evaluation and engagement with YouTube broadcasts on ChatGPT

Abstract

ChatGPT caused a worldwide sensation upon its launch, as evidenced by the extensive coverage across traditional and new media. This paper delves into the diverse evaluative discourses about this AI chatbot both in YouTube news videos (originally, television broadcasts) and in user comments facilitated by YouTube’s interactivity. The qualitative-quantitative discourse analysis probes diversified evaluations within YouTube broadcast talk, together with their impact on viewers’ perceptions of the broadcasts’ stance and viewers’ evaluations of ChatGPT and the broadcasts, as reflected by user comments. The findings present balanced effects, speaking to polarised opinions and mixed feelings about this AI development, but point to a potential boomerang effect in users’ evaluation of the new AI bot relative to the broadcasts considered to be biased. The study also reports low user engagement with the broadcasts. This challenges the notion of user engagement with broadcast content as lying at the heart of user interactivity on YouTube.