Virtual Smartphone Fan Fiction in the Age of AI: Technology Empowerment and Fan Culture Reproduction
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines virtual smartphone fan fiction, in which fans use large language models (LLMs) and front-end tools to create interactive smartphone interfaces. Through passwords, simulated apps, prewritten content, and AI-generated replies, readers explore a character’s digital space and participate in an unfolding narrative. Using the perspectives of technology empowerment and fan-culture reproduction, this study analyzes the shift from screenshot-based stories to operable interfaces, the redistribution of authorship, the production of virtual intimacy, and the limits imposed by AI models, community norms, and platform governance. It argues that interfaces and AI responses now help shape narrative rhythm and reader agency, while creators increasingly act as system designers. However, greater technical access does not guarantee cultural recognition. The reproduction of fan culture is therefore shaped by the interaction of creators, readers, interfaces, models, and communities.
Source: Social Sciences and Humanities
DOI: 10.63313/ssh.9156
Author: Tingting Yang
Institution: University of Shanghai for Science and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7225448651