Generation Mechanism of Human-Machine Mimetic Emotion from the Perspective of Digital Exchange — A Netnographic Study Based on AI Chat Communities

Abstract

With the development of AIGC technology, human-machine emotional interaction based on AI chat software has gradually become an emerging form of social interaction. This study adopts the perspective of "digital exchange" and employs a netnographic method, taking relevant online communities as the research field to analyze the interaction mechanism of human-machine mimetic emotion. The research finds that human-machine emotional interaction presents a two-layer mechanism consisting of "input-output" and "induction-maintenance". The algorithm continuously shapes the interaction process through its structural embedding at the normative layer, the production layer, and the interaction layer. The generation of emotion relies on a circular relationship between user input and algorithmic feedback, manifesting as a generative model of "mimetic emotion". At the practical level, this mechanism may lead to risks such as emotional fatigue, the weakening of social capital, and excessive reshaping of value orientations. This paper reveals the generative logic of human-machine emotional interaction at the mechanism level, providing an analytical framework for the regulation and governance of emotional applications in artificial intelligence.