Algorithmic culture

In the digital humanities, "algorithmic culture" is part of an emerging synthesis of rigorous software algorithm-driven design that couples software and highly structured data-driven design with human-oriented sociocultural attributes.^[1] An early occurrence of the term is found in Alexander R. Galloway's classic Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture.^[2]

Other definitions include Ted Striphas' work, where algorithmic culture refers to the ways in which the logic of big data and large-scale computation (including algorithms) alters how culture is practiced, experienced, and understood.^[3] Another perspective is offered by Diggit Magazine, which describes algorithmic culture as the influence of computational processes on cultural practices.^[4]

A starting point for modern discussion of culture is attributed to Edward Burnett Tylor in his 1871 works on primitive culture.^[5]^[6]

The emergence and continuing development and convergence of computers, software, algorithms,^{[citation needed]} human psychology, digital marketing and other computational technologies resulted in numerous AC variants including recommendation algorithms, AI generated stories and characters, digital assets (including creative NFTs,^{[citation needed]} all of which can and should be considered as algorithmic culture artifacts.^{[citation needed]}^{[according to whom?]} A similar process is occurring in strictly sociological interactions.^{[citation needed]}

Contemporary scholarship

Recent research further expands the concept of algorithmic culture by emphasising how cultural participation is shaped by algorithmic systems across social media platforms. Gillespie (2014)^[7] argues that algorithms act as “gatekeepers of visibility”, determining which ideas, identities, and cultural practices become amplified or obscured.

Bucher (2018)^[8] similarly highlights that recommendations and filtered feeds produce new forms of affective governance, as users come to understand themselves through what platforms choose to show them.

Van Dijck, Poell, and De Waal (2018)^[9] add that algorithmic culture plays a central role in “platform society”, where public values and cultural practices are increasingly mediated through commercial data infrastructures.

Together, this scholarship highlights that algorithmic culture is not only about automated decision-making, but also about how platforms reorganise cultural production, user behaviour, and everyday meaning-making.

Algorithmic Culture and ChatGPT

With the flourishing of LLMs, and particularly ChatGPT, algorithmic culture is increasingly visible within the academic mainstream. Jill Walker Rettberg at the University of Bergenis exploration applications of in her works.^[10] Some of the examples she uses are: How to use ChatGPT to get past writer's block, and examining society's biases and cliches^[11]

Generative AI, is a now prominent and fast evolving^{[citation needed]} component of modern algorithmic culture.^{[citation needed]} It is currently entering a period of accelerating growth,^{[citation needed]} acceptance and use, with specific algorithms and tools including Midjourney DALL-E and Stable Diffusion.^{[citation needed]}

ChatGPT Plus, GPT-4 are increasing their sophistication in composing music, writing teleplays, fairy tales, stories, and poems.^{[citation needed]} With user prompting also facilitating character specific speaking and writing styles.^{[citation needed]} NovelAI, for example, is an online AI-assisted story writer.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Alexander R. Galloway (2006). Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816648511.
^ Alexander R. Galloway (2006). Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816648511.
^ Striphas, Ted (2015). "Algorithmic culture". European Journal of Cultural Studies. 18 (4–5): 395–412. doi:10.1177/1367549415577392. S2CID 143991863.
^ "Algorithmic culture". Diggit Magazine. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
^ Tylor, Edward Burnett. Primitive culture: Researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art and custom. Vol.1 & 2. J. Murray, 1871.
^ "HumanizeAI". Retrieved 24 February 2024.
^ Gillespie, Tarleton (2014-02-28), Gillespie, Tarleton; Boczkowski, Pablo J.; Foot, Kirsten A. (eds.), "The Relevance of Algorithms", Media Technologies, The MIT Press, pp. 167–194, doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262525374.003.0009, ISBN 978-0-262-52537-4, retrieved 2025-12-12{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
^ Bucher, Taina (2018-07-26). If...Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics (1 ed.). Oxford University PressNew York. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190493028.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-049303-5.
^ Keskin, Batuhan (2018). "Van Dijk, Poell, and de Wall, The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World (2018)". Markets, Globalization & Development Review. 03 (03). doi:10.23860/MGDR-2018-03-03-08.
^ "AI and algorithmic culture". jill/txt.
^ "Generating research papers reveals our clichés". November 22, 2022.

Bibliography

Jonathan Cohn, The burden of choice: Recommendations, subversion, and algorithmic culture, Rutgers University Press, 2019
Fernández Rovira Cristina and Santiago Giraldo Luque. Predictive Technology in Social Media. First edition First ed. CRC Press
Eran Fisher, Algorithms and Subjectivity: The Subversion of Critical Knowledge. First edition First ed. Routledge 2021
Gary Hall . Culture in Bits : The Monstrous Future of Theory. Continuum 2002
Hallinan B and Striphas T (2014) Recommend for you:The Netflix Prize and the production of algorithmic culture. New Media & Society. Epub ahead of print 23 June 2014.
Levy S (2010) How Google's algorithm rules the web

[1] Alexander R. Galloway (2006). Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816648511.

[2] Alexander R. Galloway (2006). Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816648511.

[3] Striphas, Ted (2015). "Algorithmic culture". European Journal of Cultural Studies. 18 (4–5): 395–412. doi:10.1177/1367549415577392. S2CID 143991863.

[4] "Algorithmic culture". Diggit Magazine. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2025.

[5] Tylor, Edward Burnett. Primitive culture: Researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art and custom. Vol.1 & 2. J. Murray, 1871.

[6] "HumanizeAI". Retrieved 24 February 2024.

[7] Gillespie, Tarleton (2014-02-28), Gillespie, Tarleton; Boczkowski, Pablo J.; Foot, Kirsten A. (eds.), "The Relevance of Algorithms", Media Technologies, The MIT Press, pp. 167–194, doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262525374.003.0009, ISBN 978-0-262-52537-4, retrieved 2025-12-12{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)

[8] Bucher, Taina (2018-07-26). If...Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics (1 ed.). Oxford University PressNew York. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190493028.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-049303-5.

[9] Keskin, Batuhan (2018). "Van Dijk, Poell, and de Wall, The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World (2018)". Markets, Globalization & Development Review. 03 (03). doi:10.23860/MGDR-2018-03-03-08.

[10] "AI and algorithmic culture". jill/txt.

[11] "Generating research papers reveals our clichés". November 22, 2022.

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