Of Pride and Patriotism. The Representation of Artificial Intelligence in Chinese Official and Media Discourse

Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a pivotal topic in global discourse, given its far-reaching implications and transformative impact on human life. Nevertheless, limited literacy among the general public allows entitles institutions and the media to play a significant role in the construction of knowledge about this phenomenon. China’s declared ambitions and recent achievements in this area prompt exploration of the nation’s AI institutional and media narratives, and of the overlap between the two. This study examines the discursive function of such narratives in the legitimation of the Party-State through a mixed-method approach to frame analysis, aided by corpus linguistics tools. After looking at the themes and keywords pertaining to AI in institutional discourse, it analyses the themes and frames concerning AI that dominated the Chinese media discourse during the global AI coverage hype that followed the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. The study discusses the degree of alignment between the institutional and media discourse in framing AI as a fundamental component of China’s national development and international status.