MAKING FIKOM UG PROUD: DR. NADINTA RAFIFAH SUAIB, S.I.KOM., M.I.KOM. EARNS A DOCTORATE IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES WITH CUM LAUDE HONORS
Hello, Fikomers!
More proud news comes from the academic community of the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universitas Gunadarma. The entire FIKOM UG academic community extends its warmest congratulations to Dr. Nadinta Rafifah Suaib, S.I.Kom., M.I.Kom., Lecturer and Staff Member of the Undergraduate Communication Studies Program at Universitas Gunadarma, on successfully completing her Open Doctoral Promotion Examination in Communication Studies with cum laude honors.
This achievement marks an important milestone in her academic journey and reflects her commitment to advancing Communication Studies in ways that respond to technological developments and the changing dynamics of human interaction in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENERATION Z AND CHATGPT AS AN AI COMPANION
As part of her academic journey, Dr. Nadinta Rafifah Suaib, S.I.Kom., M.I.Kom. successfully defended her dissertation entitled:
“Negotiating Relational Meaning in Hyperreality: The Dialectics of Discourse, Ideology, and Power in Generation Z’s Interaction with ChatGPT as an AI Companion.”
The research examines a contemporary phenomenon in which Generative AI is no longer used solely as a tool for finding information or assisting with tasks. In practice, AI technology has also begun to serve as a space for personal conversations, sharing experiences, receiving responses, and fulfilling certain interactional needs.
This phenomenon raises a new question within Communication Studies: how do humans construct and interpret a relationship when the entity they interact with is not another human being, but an artificial intelligence system?
RELATIONAL DISCOURSES IN HUMAN–AI INTERACTION
Dr. Nadinta’s research finds that Generation Z’s relationships with ChatGPT are shaped through several relational discourses, including anthropomorphism, psychological safety, and dependency.
Anthropomorphism emerges when users attribute or perceive human characteristics in AI during interaction. Responses that feel personal, consistent, and communicative can lead users to perceive their interactions with AI as having certain relational qualities.
At the same time, these interactions may create a sense of psychological safety for some users, allowing them to express particular thoughts or experiences more openly. However, intensive use also creates a space for examining the emergence of dependency on AI as part of the evolving dynamics between humans and technology.
These findings demonstrate that human communication with Generative AI has developed into an increasingly complex phenomenon that cannot be understood solely from a technological perspective.
BETWEEN AUTHENTICITY AND ARTIFICIALITY
One of the key dynamics identified in the research is a discursive tension between authenticity and artificiality.
On the one hand, users may experience meaningful communication through conversations with AI. On the other hand, they remain aware that the responses are generated by a technological system rather than by a human being with lived experience and consciousness, as would be expected in conventional interpersonal relationships.
Within this context, users do not necessarily accept their relationships with AI passively. The research identifies a countering strategy, through which users actively negotiate and maintain boundaries between relationships perceived as authentic and those consciously recognized as artificial.
Human–AI interaction therefore becomes an ongoing space for the negotiation of meaning.
THE HYPERREAL RELATIONAL NEGOTIATION MODEL
One of the primary contributions of this dissertation is the development of the Hyperreal Relational Negotiation conceptual model.
The model explains how meaningful relationships between humans and Generative AI can emerge even when users remain aware that such relationships involve a form of simulation, while still using them to fulfill certain psychosocial needs.
This concept highlights an intriguing situation: users may fully understand that AI is not human, yet the interactions they experience can still carry personal meaning. Awareness of the technology’s artificial nature does not necessarily eliminate the relational experience that emerges through communication.
The Hyperreal Relational Negotiation model therefore offers a perspective for understanding how relational meanings are constructed, negotiated, and maintained in interactions between humans and Generative AI.
EXPANDING COMMUNICATION STUDIES IN THE ERA OF GENERATIVE AI
The emergence of Generative AI has transformed the ways people seek information, work, learn, create content, and communicate. These changes have simultaneously opened new areas for the development of Communication Studies.
Interactions with AI raise questions about relational meaning, identity, trust, authenticity, psychosocial needs, and the boundaries between human communication and technologically mediated communication.
Dr. Nadinta’s research demonstrates the important role of Communication Studies in examining these transformations—not only by considering what technology is capable of doing, but also by understanding how humans assign meaning to technology and how technology subsequently becomes embedded in their social lives.
Research in this area is becoming increasingly relevant as Artificial Intelligence becomes more deeply integrated into everyday life.
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH RESPONSIVE TO A CHANGING WORLD
Technological developments will continue to create new forms of interaction. Communication research must therefore continue to evolve in order to understand the social, cultural, and relational consequences accompanying these changes.
The study of Generation Z and AI Companions provides an example of how contemporary communication phenomena can be developed into academic research that offers new perspectives on the relationship between humans and technology.
The Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universitas Gunadarma, extends its highest appreciation and pride in the achievement of Dr. Nadinta Rafifah Suaib, S.I.Kom., M.I.Kom.
May this doctoral degree mark the beginning of many more research projects, publications, and scholarly works that enrich communication studies, particularly in the areas of humans, media, technology, and Artificial Intelligence.
Congratulations, Dr. Nadinta Rafifah Suaib, S.I.Kom., M.I.Kom.!
May you continue to produce meaningful scholarly work, advance knowledge, inspire the academic community, and make valuable contributions to the development of Communication Studies and society.
