“Language, Technology, and Metaphors We Live By”: A Corpus-Based Critical Metaphor Analysis of AI-Related News Discourse in China Daily and The New York Times

AI has been transformed from a technical pursuit into a focal point of political and societal issues. Given AI’s pivotal role in the fourth industrial revolution, media representations are instrumental in shaping public perception and national policy. China and the U.S., as two major global powers, are engaged in an “AI arm race”. Their media outlets provide distinct lenses through which AI is conceptualized. This study compares the conceptual metaphors in AI-related discourse across China Daily (CD) and The New York Times (NYT) through a corpus-based critical metaphor analysis, with particular attention to the paragraphs containing top 25 keywords in each corpus. Findings show that CD prioritizes macro-strategic topics centered on AI, predominantly employing BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION, FORCES, TRAVEL, PLANTS and PERFORMANCE metaphors. In contrast, NYT highlights commercial and political topics centered on OpenAI, favoring TRAVEL, BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION, WAR, ANIMALS and GAMES AND SPORT metaphors. These findings highlight how distinct social contexts influence the conceptual metaphors representing AI, providing critical insights for global AI governance and intercultural communication.