Recent Publication: Theodore Bonnah
Theodore Bonnah, Conseil scolaire francophone de Colombie Britannique
Author Bio: Discourse Analyst specializing in Japan, education, AI, and indigenous identity. Former professor at Kobe International University (2018-2023), current head of IB courses (Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay) at Ecole Jules Verne in Vancouver. Indigenous academic (NunatuKavut), writer, and award winning RPG game designer.
Title: "You’re a Liberal Arts Wizard, Harry! A Discourse Analysis of the Utopian Construction of Prompt Engineer as Dream Job in 2023 Media." Artificial Intelligence and Discourse.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
Publication date: 2026
Synopsis: In mid-2023, the terms ‘prompt engineer’ and ‘prompt engineering’ reached an apex of popularity in web searches, but since that time, both terms have fallen in search requests from that height. At the height of its popularity, what exactly were the promises ascribed to becoming a ‘prompt engineer’? How was ‘prompt engineer’ discursively constructed, and what did this construction reveal specifically about the view of the job market, as well as asymmetrical power relations created by the emergence of generative AI? I examine what the transient popularity of the term tells us about social discourses geared towards young workers facing work displacement through the development of generative AI from three standpoints - economic Rational Choice Theory, Marxist thought from the fragment on machines from the Grundisse, and as what I term Techbro discourse, or unfounded promises of technocratic miracles.
Keywords: AI, discourse, Marx, Rational Behavior, techbro, discourse, media