ABSTRACT

Platformized cultural production is in flux. Artificial intelligence is often seen as a key driving force of this shift. This article examines the proliferation of AI-generated media to introduce a new concept to theorize cultural production: hyperproduction. This notion designates the penetration of cultural life with deep generative models. Juxtaposing two empirical use cases–autonomous vehicles and virtual influencers—the article problematises the convergence of simulation and reality through the lens of video game engines. Although those case studies seem to be at odds with each other, they illustrate the mechanisms of new profit models built on rent extraction. Consequently, far from ushering a Matrix-style simulation that cannot be theorized, hyperproduction remains not only grounded in, but also bounded by, reality: the reality of rentier capitalism.

摘要

平台化文化生产不断变化。人工智能通常被视为这一转变的关键驱动力。本文研究了人工智能生成媒体的扩散，引入了一个新概念来理论化文化生产：超生产。这个概念指的是文化生活与深层生成模式的渗透。本文将两个实证用例（自动驾驶汽车和虚拟影响者）并置，通过视频游戏引擎的视角提出了模拟与现实的融合问题。尽管这些案例研究似乎相互矛盾，但它们说明了建立在租金抽取基础上的新盈利模式的机制。因此，超生产并没有带来无法理论化的矩阵式模拟，它不仅植根于现实，而且受到现实的限制：