Search

The Inextinguishable Human-AI Affection: A Study on Boundaries, Emotions, and Subjectivity in Human–Machine Interaction

Author(s)

Yi Shang, Shenming Hu*

Affiliation(s)

Department of Journalism and Communication, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. *Corresponding Author

Abstract

As human-computer interaction becomes commonplace, artificial intelligence is quietly shaping the “machine logic” of the digital media ecosystem through emotional engagement with humans. Algorithmic technology reconstructs the ethical framework of emotional practice in the digital age by constructing a bidirectional subjectivity of virtual co-presence, private communicative fields, precise topic focus, and ritualized emotional bonds. However, the crisis of subjectivity and ethical risks behind human–AI interaction cannot be ignored. This study argues that AI’s fulfillment of human emotional needs is largely an act of coded compliance; the illusion of communication constructed by algorithms essentially constitutes an “emotional panopticon”, whose ethical crisis stems from the colonization of the lifeworld by technological logic. To break through the predicament of subjectivity, it is necessary to negotiate or resist the use of AI, rebuild communicative rationality, and defend the integrity of the emotional subject within technological hegemony.

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence; Human-Machine Relations; Emotional Communication; Subjectivity.

References

[1] Lesh N, Marks J, Rich C, et al. “Man-Computer Symbiosis” Revisited: Achieving Natural Communication and Collaboration with Computers. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, 2004, 87: 1290-1298. [2] Liu T T, Liu Z, Chai Y J, Wang J, Wang Y Y. Research on Agent Affective Computing in Human-Computer Interaction. Journal of Image and Graphics, 2021, 26(12): 2767-2777. [3] Liu S Y. “Growing Pains of Iteration”: Three Dimensions of Technological Anxiety in the AI Era. Journalism and Writing, 2025(3): 28-37. [4] Lin S L, Ye L. Human-Machine·Interaction·Reshaping: Intelligent Robots as the “Sixth Medium”. Journalism & Communication Review, 2019, 26(10): 87-104+128. [5] Chen F, Xu X. Technological Emotions in the Post-Human Era and Their Ethical Reflection. Chinese Journal of Systems Science, 2020, 28(1): 1-5+11. [6] Liu Y D. Artificial Intelligence, Emotional Machines and the “Emotion-Intelligence Paradox”. Exploration and Free Views, 2019(6): 76-88+158. [7] Xu X J. Freud’s Theory of the Unconscious and German Unconscious Philosophy in the 19th Century. World Philosophy, 2025(2): 103-114+206. [8] Heidegger M. Being and Time. Translated by Huang A H, Feng G. Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 2006: 175-177. [9] Sun W. Cyborg: Media Convergence in the Post-Human Era. Shanghai Journalism Review, 2018(6): 4-11. [10] Sun W. The Body of the Communicator: Communication and Presence-The Evolution of Conscious Subject, Body-Subject, and Intelligent Subject. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication, 2018, 40(12): 83-103. [11] Zhao L. Restriction or Domestication: Algorithmic Imagination, Visibility Management Strategies and Institutional Reproduction. Contemporary Communication, 2022(4): 53-58. [12] Peng L. Existence, Cognition, Relationship: How Algorithms Will Change Us. Journalism and Mass Communication Monthly, 2021(3): 45-53. [13] Zhang T G, Li P W. On Foucault’s Concept of “Subject”. Jianghai Academic Journal, 2016(6): 52-56. [14] Zeng Y G. From “Technologies of the Self” to “Technological Self”: The Technical Shaping of Self-Image in the Social Media Era. Exploration and Free Views, 2020(6): 24-26+157. [15] Ding L Z. Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence. Philosophical Research, 1980(10): 10-14. [16] Yu F, Xu L Y. The Anthropomorphism of Artificial Intelligence. Journal of Northwest Normal University (Social Sciences), 2020, 57(5): 52-60. [17] Stiegler B, Yang J G. Digital Technology as the Messenger of Another Society. Cultural Studies, 2014(4): 189-198.