The Semiotic Method and the Analysis of Brand Discourse in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

The growing role of AI opens new perspectives and challenges for brand semiotics, prompting a reconsideration of the role of the semiotic analyst and the applicative potential of semiotics itself. This paper aims to examine whether, and to what extent, consolidated semiotic methodologies—rooted in the analysis of textual coherence, enunciation, and the articulation of values—remain effective in analysing new forms of brand communication enunciated or co-enunciated through AI systems. Specifically, the discussion explores how hybrid authorship challenges traditional distinctions between “brand identity” and “brand image”, and how semiotic tools can serve as a framework for monitoring consistency across multiple discourse levels. Ultimately, the paper advocates an updated understanding of semiotics as a discipline with a “collaborative orientation”, capable of intervening throughout the communicative process, from conception to evaluation, while ensuring the coherence and enunciative integrity of the discourse amid the increasingly algorithmic production of brand meaning.