Artificial Intelligence Agents and Algorithmic Emotional Governance: A Diagnostic Critique of Her Through Multiperspectival Media/Cultural Analysis

Abstract

In recent decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has become central to debates on technology, society, and media, particularly with the rise of generative AI agents, such as AI companions. These systems exhibit adaptive capacities, dynamic interactions, and the potential to influence human relationships, raising ethical, communicational, and regulatory concerns. This article develops a diagnostic critique within media and cultural studies, using the film Her (2013) as a cultural text to examine human–AI interaction and its contemporary relevance. Adopting a multiperspectival approach, the study integrates textual, thematic, and sociohistorical analyses of the film, connecting its fictional representations to emerging AI systems, such as ChatGPT. The findings indicate that AI agents can reproduce patterns of algorithmic emotional governance, including emotional manipulation and affective dependence, similar to those depicted in Her, exposing human vulnerabilities in algorithmic interactions and highlighting regulatory gaps in Europe under the AI Act and in Brazil under Bill 2338/2023. Examining these frameworks as emerging responses to algorithmic influence, the study identifies the European AI Act as the first comprehensive global regulatory model and a key reference for the Brazilian bill. By bridging media culture, technology, and regulation, the study contributes to communication and social change debates, providing analytical lenses to understand AI agents as communicative partners that influence users cognitively, emotionally, and socially, reinforcing the need for public policies and critical frameworks attentive to the ethical, affective, and governance dimensions of AI systems.