INTERPRETATION WITHOUT AN INTERPRETER: ALGORITHMIC HERMENEUTICS AND NEW FORMS OF MEANING-MAKING

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon of “interpretation without an interpreter,” which emerges within digital ecosystems—interconnected digital environments conceptually close to Luciano Floridi’s infosphere, that is, a space of circulation and transformation of meanings—where texts are increasingly generated, processed, and analysed by large language models (LLMs) as well as artificially intelligent agents (AI-agents). Thus, the process of interpretation often occurs without the direct participation of a human subject. The scientific novelty of the study lies in posing the question of how real and in what ontological status meaning may be if it is not lived through by a subject and arises and circulates exclusively within algorithmic systems. The article compares classical approaches to interpretation (Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricœur) with contemporary theories of digital hermeneutics (N. Katherine Hayles, Luciano Floridi, Alberto Romele, David J. Gunkel), which reveal the specific features of meaning-making mediated by algorithms in digital environments. The research tasks include describing cases of text generation and analysis performed by interacting LLMs, as well as automated SEO optimisation and text humanisation (adaptation for human perception). In such a “dialogue” between AI-agents, meaning potentially becomes a function of digital interaction rather than of human experience. This determines the relevance of examining the phenomenon of algorithmic understanding as a philosophical problem. Through an analysis of classical hermeneutics and contemporary digital systems, the study identifies the boundaries and paradoxes of “algorithmic understanding,” raises the question of the possible existence of meaning outside the human interpreter, and discusses the potential consequences of such transformations for philosophy, culture, and communication.