After Writing: How AI Revives the Age of Logos/Orality
Presented by:
Cengiz Sisman, University of Houston Clear Lake
AI’s rise marks the decline of writing culture, as machines outwrite humans. This shift heralds a return to orality—reviving logos through dialogue, speech, and interactive expression.
Keywords:
AI Literacy, Second Orality, Post-writing
Abstract:
The rise of artificial intelligence marks a turning point in the history of communication. As machines become increasingly skilled at generating text, the centrality of human writing begins to fade. This transformation signals not merely automation but a return to logos: a renewed orality grounded in dialogue, performance, and immediacy. In this emerging landscape, meaning is spoken rather than inscribed, shared rather than stored. For educators, this shift demands a rethinking of classroom practices—moving beyond traditional writing assignments toward tasks that privilege oral exchange, collaborative performance, and embodied forms of learning.
Outcomes:
1. Recognize how the rise of artificial intelligence is transforming writing culture.
2. Analyze the concept of “secondary orality” and return of logo-centric culture.
3. Develop innovative approaches to teaching that emphasize dialogue, performance, and oral expression.
Hear it from the author:
Transcript:
References:
Colella, S. (2025). “The language of the digital air”: AI-generated literature and the performance of authorship. Humanities, 14(8).
Emigh, R. J. (2024). Whither digitality? The relationship between orality, literacy, and digitality, past and present: From spoken traditions to digital media. Annual Review of Sociology, 50, 1–24.
Re-embracing orality in digital education: The pedagogical affordances of podcasting in the era of generative AI. (2024). Frontiers in Education, 32.