'Intergalactic' Resistance Studies Conference

Individual presentation

OUTRIGHT UNGOVERNABLE! THE DEPLOYMENT OF AI GENERATED CONTENT IN RESISTANCE AND DIGITAL DISSENT ON TIKTOK IN ZIMBABWE

Emmanuel Tembo
University of Cape Town
This study is an exploration of the use of AI in the questioning, challenging, confrontation of, and resistance against political and social systems of power through the use of AI and AI generated TikTok content. AI use in social media content generation in Zimbabwe is steadily increasing with many popular and notable content creators resorting to making use of it in various ways. TikTok content creators have not been left behind in the AI adoption craze, with uses ranging from music to political content generation. This study, performed through the lens of Foucault’s theory of power and resistance, and the Technological Affordances Theory, explores how David Nhunzva, a TikTok anonymous activist and content creator, uses AI to generate socio-politically themed content to interrogate, challenge, confront and subvert systems of power in the Zimbabwean society. Using a multimodal critical discourse analysis of purposively sampled set of content posted on David Nhunzva’s TikTok, the study investigates the ways AI is used and the affordances it provides for unique content generation, the forms of content produced and the discourses of power that Nhunzva explores in his content. The study finds that Nhunzva uses video generation AIs to bring creative imagined scenarios to life; exposing the irony, ludicrousness and absurdity of the Zimbabwean political system and its politicians. He also creates content that mocks, scoffs and pokes fun at powerful people and systems, stripping them of their perceived invincibility and the associated command of fear. The study is a pioneering contribution to the evolving space of research around AI generated social media content in Zimbabwe, providing insights into how AI is locating itself within the conversation of confrontation of and resistance against autocracy and power in the global south. Key Words: AI generated; resistance; technological affordances; TikTok
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