The Cryptids That May Never Creep Us Out: Generative AI's Impact on Supernatural Belief, Commodification, and Ostension

I intend to use the phenomenon of Jimothy's induction into digital folklore as a case study to examine how attitudes towards cryptids may vary depending on individuals' suspicions that a cryptid may be AI-generated, and what impact (if any) this would have on the form and effects of supernatural belief narratives - particularly ostensive ones - that they may engage in because of these cryptids. I will conduct a social media ethnography by engaging with social media communities and posts across a variety of platforms (including but not limited to Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Tiktok, and Tumblr) to understand how digital narratives about Jimothy went from spreading via folkloric transmission to spreading via mass culture transmission. This work will serve as an initial limited analysis that would inform a future more comprehensive examination of this topic by analyzing interactions with other cryptid folklore narratives that involve generative AI (either through the cryptid being AI-generated or the cryptid being suspected of being AI-generated, regardless of whether this is the case) to identify similarities and differences in how cryptid belief narratives - especially the ostensive action they may inspire - are affected by the prevalence of generative AI. I hypothesize that individuals are more likely to engage in ostensive action for cryptids they do not suspect to be AI-generated, including ostensive action that commodifies the cryptid, due to non-AI generated cryptids having more meaningful and contextualized physical locations one can go to in order to further engage with both the cryptids' narratives as well as other connect with other individuals who have similar experiences and sentiments around the same supernatural beliefs.