“When ChatGPT remembers”

Abstract

Existing studies on GenAI and storytelling show mixed results, often highlighting the systems’ limitations compared to human creativity. A key-gap in this emerging field is how personal stories are co-constructed between users and GenAI. Moving beyond a human vs. non-human binary, this paper explores storytelling as an interactional process. I present an auto-ethnographic study of a longitudinal co-construction of a personal crisis narrative with ChatGPT, focusing on the affordances of the feature of memory. Drawing on small stories and positioning analysis, I trace a shift from generic, alignment-based responses to forms of co-authoring that (re)frame evaluations and bring up ‘memory’ as a resource for knowing participation by ChatGPT. I show how the discursive positioning emerging from these contributions is hybrid, that of a therapist-friend. The discussion illustrates the value of applying practice-based, interactional approaches to the study of co-construction in GenAI narrative communication, as shaped by technological affordances.