The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence technologies, particularly large language models, has raised new questions in the domains of philosophy, hermeneutics, and human agency. This article, employing a descriptive–analytical method and an interdisciplinary approach, revisits the epistemological, methodological, and existential–ethical challenges arising from the interaction between humans and intelligent systems.
At the epistemological level, the primary issue lies in the inability of AI systems to achieve “genuine hermeneutic understanding,” being limited instead to structural simulation of meaning, which consequently risks a disconnection between meaning and truth. At the methodological level, the opacity and ambiguity of algorithmic mechanisms lead to a crisis of credibility and legitimacy in machine-generated interpretations. At the existential–ethical level, the potential threat to the human interpreter’s role and responsibility in the process of meaning-making comes to the fore.
Based on this analysis, the article proposes theoretical, practical, and technological strategies for redefining and expanding human hermeneutic agency in the age of artificial intelligence. It argues that a responsible and critical engagement with these technologies is not merely a technical necessity but a philosophical and ethical imperative—one that can redefine the relationship between humans, texts, and technology within the horizon of digital hermeneutics.