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Piotr Mirowski and company expose the short fallings of Artificial Intelligence in a hysterically funny and occasionally bewildering unscripted show.Summary
Rating
Excellent
How do you write about a show that culminates in a PowerPoint presentation on plugs uncovered? ‘What is that even?’ I hear you asking, and the truth is that I don’t know. I also feel compelled to explain what an octopus, a banjo and a lifeguard have in common with Wimbledon and London Fashion Week, but the answer is as simple as the previous one: nothing at all. In this show randomness is key.
AI and robotics scientist-cum-MC Piotr Mirowski opens proceedings with a brief introduction of Alex: an acronym for Artificial Language Experiment. The little robot is standing on a podium at the front of the stage and politely says hello with raised arms when summoned by his master. We are then asked to come up with a random topic that Alex will be researching whilst the rest of the show unfolds and, you guessed right, that’s when someone in the crowd shouts “plugs uncovered”. “Great choice!” echoes Piotr.
Five improv specialists (Ben Lovell, Marouen Mraihi, Michael Prior, Sarah Davies and Thomas Jones) constitute the rest of the cast, called in turns to engage with the AI device and amongst themselves. The purpose of this show is to highlight in a funny way the short-fallings of AI and how much development is still needed to make the interactions fluent enough to become credible. The outcome is a whimsical hour of baffling exchanges in which humans and bots produce unlikely conversations.
Hence we go from a light-hearted chat about an octopus to trying to devise the plot for the next award-winning Hollywood sensation. The ultimate Turing Test (to see if the AI’s intelligent behaviour can be convincing as that of a human) revolves around a poem on lifeguards and challenges us to identify who is ad-libbing and who is taking instructions from a chatbot via an earpiece. A final, hysterical discourse on plugs uncovered is voiced by the brilliant Prior and offers top notch comedy material.
Even better, the strongest feature of this performance is that it will never be the same again, as the final product is so strictly dependent on the unpredictable suggestions coming from the audience.
Programmed by curator Paloma Jacob-Duvernet to follow Assisted in the AI Festival 2023 line-up, this show couldn’t offer a much starker contrast between two uses of Artificial Intelligence. The former rings alarm bells for a dystopian future threatened by the invasive nature of technology, and the latter incorporates it for real in the creative process to expose its utter silliness.
Devised and Produced by: Improbotics
Artificial Intelligence Improvisation plays again at Omnibus Theatre as a workshop on 9 July at 2pm. Further information and bookings here.
The AI Festival continues until 9 July. Further information on all shows within the season can be found here.
