Relocating the Sacred to the Algorithmized Self: Construction of Algorithmic Conspirituality on TikTok from the perspective of Human-AI Interaction

Abstract

This work contributes to an emerging corpus of knowledge about algorithmic conspirituality on TikTok, inviting to pay special attention to the role of algorithmically mediated self that takes part in the formation of magical heuristics about AI-powered recommender systems. The main objective of this research proposal is to interpret the meaning-making processes surrounding algorithmic conspirituality among TikTok users. This research proposal invites to extend existing theorization on algorithmic conspirituality by investigating specific perceptual and experiential processes of AI-based algorithmic recommender system that take place in the construction of this phenomenon. The initial inference suggests that affective encounters with algorithmized self foster self-reflection, at the same time as they activate sense-making processes about algorithmic work. This way, algorithmic conspirituality situates the algorithmized self as a transcendent self that guides the already-existing-self towards self-cultivation. Ultimately, conspiritual beliefs about the algorithms is a manifestation of relocation of the divine to the digital and the self. With this in mind, we propose a qualitative multi-method approach built upon a combination of media diary, focus group, questionnaire and interview techniques. This combination of participatory personal and collective narratives of embodied algorithmic perceptions and experiences will allow to address algorithmic conspirituality from a variety of perspectives.