The Algorithmic Aesthetic: Interactivity, AI, and the Future of Narrative Authority
Abstract
The new media revolution, along with social media platforms, AI-generated content, and participatory culture, has greatly changed the approach to storytelling strategies and the aesthetics of the media. Both linear narratives and editorial work, as found in the past, are gradually giving way to broken, immersive, and algorithmically curated forms of expression. The present article examines the dual nature of this transformation: even if new media enables user-controlled content generation and enhances participation, it will also inevitably undermine the perceptions of conventional truth, ownership, and consistency. Methodologically, the study employs comparative textual analysis, drawing on international case studies including micro-narratives of TikTok, AI-created news articles at The Guardian, and Netflix's Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. The results indicated that media aesthetics is undergoing a paradigm shift, tending more towards immediacy, emotional intensity and interactivity rather than depth and narrative closure. Lastly, the paper will discuss the ethical and epistemological implications of these changes on contemporary media culture and digital narratives.
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