Public Storytelling in Transition: How GenAI Transforms Institutional and Vernacular Storytelling (PUST)

Storytelling is central to how public opinions are created, shaped, and transformed. Until recently, commonsensical as well as academic understandings of storytelling have assumed that stories are told by a human to a human. With the rise of LLM-based generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, this, however, is rapidly changing. Politicians, lawyers, priests, influencers, and activists increasingly rely on GenAI to craft stories aimed at persuasion and mobilisation. Combining narrative theory, rhetorical criticism, and media studies, the project investigates how this shift transforms the practices and consequences of public storytelling with professional and political ends across institutional and vernacular domains. The project situates its findings within broader cultural and societal debates, providing much needed insights into how storytelling, persuasion, and public discourse are reshaped when narrative work is shared with GenAI.