Human Improvised Theatre Augmented with Artificial Intelligence

Piotr Mirowski, Kory Wallace Mathewson

Abstract: Improvisational theatre (improv) has been proposed as a grand challenge for general artificial intelligence (AI)~\citemartin2016improvisational. Current state-of-the-art conversational intelligence models lack proper grounding, language understanding, and generate meaningless meandering responses~\citedziri2018augmenting. Utilizing them as improvised comedy partners (improvisors) is doomed to fail - curiously, this limitation makes their use particularly appealing. Improv theatre celebrates risk taking and failure by inviting performers to express themselves without hesitation or fear of being judged~\citejohnstone1979impro. Our installation is an interactive improv workshop for a group of interested participants, culminating in a live public performance. Attendees are invited to observe and interact with AI-based improvisational theatre technology. The workshop is facilitated by two improv theatre professionals with a combined 30 years of experience in teaching, training, and touring. The performance features various AI tools for augmented creativity.