Games, Artificial Intelligence, and the Reconfiguration of Humanity’s Cultural Agency

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of artificial intelligence development in gaming environments on the transformation of cultural production practices, interpretation, and the legitimation of creativity and knowledge. The research focuses on how algorithmic systems participate in cultural interaction, reshaping understandings of subjectivity, competence, and creativity, and how game-based AI emerges as an autonomous agent of cultural co-evolution. Methodology. The value of the work is in the combination of the comparative conceptual and discursive analysis. Thus, comparative analysis allows for the juxtaposition of semiotic, sociological, and media-theoretical models, while discursive analysis investigates the formation of public narratives regarding AI agency, creativity, and power. An original four-stage model of algorithmic cultural dynamics is used: the generation, social perception, normalisation, and institutionalisation of algorithmic practices in culture. Scientific Novelty. The suggested four-stage model underlines that AI integration in games is not only a technological, but also a cultural phenomenon. It shows how algorithmic systems can become autonomous agents of cultural processes, capable of producing new meanings, generating symbolic capital, reshaping cognitive and aesthetic norms, and creating new models of human-machine collaboration. Conclusions. The development of AI within gaming environments transforms the cultural logic of interaction: from augmenting human computational capabilities (Deep Blue) to autonomous generation of strategies and creativity (AlphaGo, AlphaZero, AlphaStar). Algorithms become not just technical tools but cultural agents defining criteria of competence, value, and legitimacy. The four-stage model illustrates that technological innovations develop into cultural structures, reflecting the change in understanding intelligence, creativity, and subjectivity, while establishing new standards of social and aesthetic interaction.