Artificial sociality: Ontological foundations of sociological research

The article considers the phenomenon of artificial sociality as a new form of social being that emerges under the widespread dissemination of digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and algorithmic mediation. The relevance of the study is determined not only by the technological penetration of AI into everyday life and institutional interactions, but also by the lack of an established ontological and methodological framework for the analysis of emerging hybrid forms of communication. The article aims at identifying ontological foundations and analytical perspectives of the sociological study of artificial sociality, providing its typology and assessing its social consequences. The theoretical-methodological basis of the article is formed by systems theory (N. Luhmann), critical realism (R. Bhaskar), social constructivism (P. Berger and T. Luckmann), and concepts of the network society and hybrid agency (M. Castells, T. Malsh, S. Turkle, D. Haraway). The authors expand ontological analysis with the tools of digital sociology: categories of autopoiesis, network, agency and mediatization and approaches of digital ethnography and analysis of algorithmic structures. Thus, artificial sociality is presented as a stable socialtechnical phenomenon with such features as subjectivity, institutional integration, and symbolic legitimation. The authors distinguish five forms of artificial sociality (imitational, assistive, hybrid, agent-initiated, and autonomous) and mention directions for their empirical analysis and criteria for operationalization, emphasizing that artificial sociality not only transforms institutions and communications but also generates new forms of social stratification, desubjectivation, and digital inequality.