RECONSTRUCTING AUTHENTICITY IN THE AGE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF AI-ASSISTED INSTAGRAM POSTS
Öz
The rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has introduced new questions concerning authenticity, transparency, and human creative agency in social media communication. While previous research has largely examined audience responses to AI-generated or AI-assisted content, comparatively less attention has been given to how creators themselves communicate AI involvement in naturally occurring social media posts. Addressing this gap, this study examines how authenticity is communicatively constructed in AI-assisted Instagram posts through qualitative content analysis. The dataset consists of 20 publicly accessible Instagram posts published between 1 and 30 June 2026 that explicitly disclose the use of generative AI. Posts were selected through purposive and maximum variation sampling across different creator categories. The analysis shows that AI disclosure extends beyond simply identifying technology use and is frequently integrated into descriptions of creative processes, production decisions, and human intervention. Across the analyzed posts, AI is predominantly positioned as a supporting or collaborative resource, while creators continue to emphasize aesthetic judgment, selection, revision, and responsibility for the final output. Transparency is similarly communicated through explanations of how and where AI enters the production process. The findings suggest that authenticity in AI-assisted social media communication is constructed not through the absence of technological mediation but through the communicative visibility of human involvement. By focusing on creator practices rather than measuring audience responses, the study contributes to AI-mediated communication research by conceptualizing authenticity as a relational communicative process shaped by AI disclosure, transparency, and representations of human agency.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Generative Artificial Intelligence, AI-Assisted Communication, Authenticity, Transparency, Trust, Social Media, Instagram
Kaynakça
- Arslan, A., Keskin, G., & Skeja, A. (2026). Dijital pazarlamada influencer özgünlüğünün satın alma niyeti üzerindeki etkisi. TroyAcademy, 11(2), 257–289. https://doi.org/10.31454/troyacademy.1937950
- Audrezet, A., de Kerviler, G., & Moulard, J. G. (2020). Authenticity under threat: When social media influencers need to go beyond self-presentation. Journal of Business Research, 117, 557–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.008
- Baek, T. H., Kim, J., & Kim, J. H. (2026). Effect of disclosing AI-generated content on prosocial advertising evaluation. International Journal of Advertising, 45(1), 171–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2024.2401319
- British Psychological Society. (2021). Ethics guidelines for internet-mediated research (4th ed.). British Psychological Society.
- Brüns, J. D., & Meißner, M. (2024). Do you create your content yourself? Using generative artificial intelligence for social media content creation diminishes perceived brand authenticity. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 79, Article 103790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103790
- Ehsan, U., Liao, Q. V., Muller, M., Riedl, M. O., & Weisz, J. D. (2021). Expanding explainability: Towards social transparency in AI systems. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Article 82, pp. 1–19). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445188
- El Ali, A., Venkatraj, K. P., Morosoli, S., Naudts, L., Helberger, N., & Cesar, P. (2024). Transparent AI disclosure obligations: Who, what, when, where, why, how. In Extended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Article 342, pp. 1–11). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3650750
- Enli, G. (2015). Mediated authenticity: How the media constructs reality. Peter Lang. Franzke, A. S., Bechmann, A., Zimmer, M., Ess, C., & the Association of Internet Researchers. (2020). Internet research: Ethical guidelines 3.0. Association of Internet Researchers. https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf
- Gaden, G., & Dumitrica, D. (2015). The ‘real deal’: Strategic authenticity, politics and social media. First Monday, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i1.4985
- Guzman, A. L., & Lewis, S. C. (2020). Artificial intelligence and communication: A human–machine communication research agenda. New Media & Society, 22(1), 70–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819858691
