Dear Reader,
Artificial Intellgence Apes Moliere
Scholars and artists at Sorbonne University trained artificial intelligence to imitate the French playwright's themes, structures and sense of humor. The result is a new play, reports Laura Capelle in
The New York Times.
"A tyrannical father, duped by a sham astrologer, promises his daughter in marriage — until she and a clever servant expose the fraud with some farcical tricks," she writes, "It sounds like a comedic plot by Molière, the 17th-century playwright who thrilled Paris by skewering paternal authority and pseudoscience. Yet the beloved French author didn't write that one: It's the scenario for "The Astrologer, or False Omens," a play written by an artificial intelligence program trained to imitate Molière's themes, structures and sense of humor.
"For the past two years, the French A.I. collective Obvious has been developing the script with the Théâtre Molière Sorbonne, a theater company specializing in historical reconstructions of the 17th-century repertoire."
The process was driven by "scientific curiosity," Mickaël Bouffard, the director of the Théâtre Molière Sorbonne, said. "We're trying to simulate Molière's creative process, step by step. Our goal is to be as historically accurate as possible."
If AI can do such a convincing version of Moliere, how much longer before other playwrights are on the list? Is this a good way to pay tribute or is it a travesty? Tough to decide!
"I want my audience to be constantly captivated, bewitched, so that it leaves the theatre dazed, stunned to be back on the pavement."
Francois Truffaut