The Human Condition; Can It Be Artificially Expressed?
As we roll into 2023, the barrage of artificial intelligence tools that are at our fingertips is quite frankly, shocking. It begs the question, what must we collectively decide is too sacred to the human experience that we shan’t allow AI to do for us?
I asked the most recent it-girl of AI, ChatGPT, to “write the first page of a play, authentically depicting the human experience.” Here’s what it came up with:
Act 1, Scene 1
(The stage is set as a living room in a suburban home. The furniture is worn and well-used. A coffee table sits in the center of the room, surrounded by a couch and two armchairs. A lamp on an end table casts a warm glow over the room. A calendar hangs on the wall, open to the current month. It is early evening.)
(JESSICA, a woman in her mid-30s, enters the room from stage left. She is dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She carries a stack of mail in one hand and a grocery bag in the other.)
JESSICA: (sighs) Another day, another dollar. (She sets the mail and groceries on the coffee table and begins to sort through them.)
(JOHN, a man in his early 40s, enters from stage right. He is dressed in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase. He looks tired and stressed.)
JOHN: (sighs) Another day, another deadline. (He sets his briefcase down next to the couch and sinks into it.)
JESSICA: (looks up from the mail) How was work?
JOHN: (shakes his head) The usual. Meetings, emails, more meetings. (He rubs his temples.) I need a drink.
JESSICA: (nods) I know how you feel. (She stands and goes to the kitchen) Want a beer?
JOHN: (nods) Yeah, that sounds good. (He watches her leave, then looks around the room, taking in the familiar surroundings.)
(JESSICA returns with two beers and hands one to JOHN.)
JESSICA: (sits next to him) So, anything interesting happen today?
JOHN: (shrugs) Not really. Just the usual grind. How was your day?
JESSICA: (sighs) Same old, same old. Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning. The usual suburban housewife routine. (She takes a drink of her beer.)
JOHN: (nods) Yeah, I know what you mean. But we have each other, right? (He takes her hand and gives it a squeeze.)
JESSICA: (smiles) Yes, we do. (She leans her head on his shoulder.)
(They sit in silence for a moment, sipping their beers and enjoying each other's company.)
JESSICA: (looks up) Oh, I almost forgot. I got a letter from the bank today.
JOHN: (sits up) What does it say?
JESSICA: (hands him the letter) It says our mortgage payments are going up next month.
JOHN: (scanning the letter) That's not good.
JESSICA: (shakes her head) No, it's not. We're already struggling to make ends meet as it is.
JOHN: (sighs) I'll talk to my boss about getting a raise.
JESSICA: (nods) And I'll see if I can pick up some more hours at work.
JOHN: (nods) We'll figure it out. We always do.
(They sit in silence for a moment, looking at the letter and contemplating their future. The stage goes dark.)
(End of Scene 1)
ChatGPT gave us a beginning, middle, and end of an unbearably quotidian scene. It offered us characters, set, a plot, a semblance of conflict, and a resolution — fair enough, all those elements of a story can more or less be gathered from reading any excerpt of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey or The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
But, what does that say about the essence of theatre, how intrinsically we believe it is important for playwrights to express themselves in order to reflect society, and how no artificial intelligence could ever replace or imitate the human experience through a play?
Well, the essence of theatre is the ability to tell a story, convey emotions, and reflect society through live performances. It is an art form that has been around for thousands of years, and continues to be a powerful medium for expressing human experience.
For playwrights, theatre is a way to express themselves and explore the world around them. It allows them to delve into the complexities of human nature, and to hold a mirror up to society. Through the use of characters and dialogue, playwrights are able to explore the deepest aspects of the human experience, from love and loss to hope and despair.
In this way, theatre plays a crucial role in society. It allows us to understand and empathize with others, and to gain insight into the world around us. It also serves as a powerful tool for social change, raising awareness and sparking discussions on important issues.
Despite the advancements in technology, artificial intelligence will never be able to replace or imitate the human experience through a play. Theatre is a live, collaborative art form that involves the interaction between performers and audience. It is an experience that is unique and cannot be replicated by machines.
In conclusion, theatre is an essential art form that has stood the test of time. It provides a platform for playwrights to express themselves and reflect society through live performances. While technology may continue to evolve, it will never be able to replace the human experience of theatre.
If we were to elaborate on the notion that artificial intelligence can merely reflect on what it gathers from the human experience, unlike a human who lives unique experiences, allowing them to write a play that will garner empathy from its audience, we’d say that artificial intelligence, while able to process and analyze vast amounts of data, is ultimately limited by the information it has been provided with. It can only reflect on what it has been programmed to understand about the human experience. It lacks the ability to truly live and experience emotions, thoughts and feelings which are essential elements of a play.
A human playwright, on the other hand, has the ability to write from their own unique perspective, shaped by their own personal experiences. They can draw from their own emotions and memories to create characters, dialogue and situations that are relatable and authentic. This is what makes a play resonate with an audience on a deep emotional level and allows them to empathize with the characters and the story.
Furthermore, a human playwright can also draw from their own imagination and create stories and characters that are not based on their personal experiences but are a product of their own imagination. An AI on the other hand, can only reflect on what it has been fed with and can not create something new, something unique and something that can evoke emotions in the audience.
In addition, the live and collaborative aspect of theatre, the immediacy of the audience's reaction and the improvisation that can happen on stage, are elements that can not be replicated by AI. The human experience, the ability to feel, to improvise and the unpredictability of the live performance, are what makes the theatre unique and irreplaceable.
In summary, while artificial intelligence may be able to analyze and process information about the human experience, it lacks the ability to truly live and understand it. A human playwright, on the other hand, has the ability to draw from their own unique experiences and emotions to create authentic and relatable stories that elicit empathy from the audience. Theatre is a human experience and AI can never replace it.
All of this is true, of course. And… all of it was written by ChatGPT. Everything in bold were my prompts, and the rest was conjured up by the OpenAI chatbot. How does that, as a reader, make you feel? Was there any notion that the writings — urged by my admittedly leading calls to action — were somehow soulless?
This new age of technology is a daunting and utterly fascinating thing to behold, let alone, try to function in our everyday lives, jobs, and activities through. There are sure advantages and unsettling disadvantages this’ll bring to our future, but we must not let that deter us from the desires we have within our souls. For, as of today, that is something we (people) have that AI does not. Take it from ChatGPT itself, artificial intelligence may be able to analyze and process information about the human experience, it lacks the ability to truly live and understand it.
Let’s embrace that fact, and accept the opportunities that’ll come with this new age. But let’s agree to leave the playwriting to the humans, and their souls.
We hereby guarantee that no other Bluebird Theatre Company articles are or will be written by AI; the authors’ attributions are accurate and true to the humans responsible for them.
Title image by Maximalfocus on Unsplash
