Observer: When you buy Broadway tickets, it’s not like buying groceries. It’s a top-of-the-line purchase, with lots of complicated details that need to be worked through. However, the future of the theater ticket buying experience is about to change, thanks to a company called Broadw.ai.
8 comments:
It’s comforting to hear that theatre jobs won’t be replaced by artificial intelligence...people are needed after all. It’s a creative industry and technicians are needed no matter how good the robots are. It’s interesting to see how the theatre industry, specifically how it puts on productions, has stayed the same and changed so much at the same time. We’re using the same concepts to run a show, like rigging, but we just improved the technology and materials that we use. But it’s basically the same idea. Of course, we have new technology like virtual reality rolling in (like watching performances through your phone at certain points). I wonder how far we can take this in performances.
As to ticket selling in Broadway, the limited times I’ve bought tickets have been...complicated. The article explained how the whole process is and I now understand it just a bit more. On a side note, I always found Broadway super inaccessible anyway, because it is only in New York physically, and tickets are often very expensive (unless you’re in New York and enter the lottery and try and win a ticket). I’m looking forward to the Broadway ticketing system improving and becoming more accessible.
This is a poor article. While I did find the information in this article to be of interest, I am set off by it instead. The article is supposed to talk about how Artificial intelligence is disrupting the theatre industry. Instead it gives a sales pitch. I now know that there is a company that is working WITH Broadway to make technology integrate with ticket sales in a preferred manner. But that’s about it. I fail to see how the theatre industry is disrupted; it sounds like it is evolving. I fail to see where artificial intelligence comes into play, because all that was mentioned was how useful people are and how this site or system will essentially replace them by being more of them in one stance. My big question is HOW? And WHY? Where is the AI and why is going to be better than talking to the concierge at my hotel? Why is it that this is going to be a big deal, how is it going to affect society, theatre goers, and the theatre industry?
I agree with Nicolaus- this article does not seem to accomplish what it teases in the title. AI is already more incorporated into our lives than we like to think, from ad suggestions based on searches to airline ticketing. Incorporating AI into Broadway ticketing systems does not seem like a disruption of the industry, only business as usual but with more site lags due to the increased server capacity. Facebook already mines our data to place ads for related items, why do we need ticketmaster to do the same? This software doesn’t seem like it will really help the customer, only encourage them to spend more money. And really, did anyone think stagehands could be replaced with AI? Broadway already uses software and computing systems as tools, but no one expects a robot to call cues for a show. AI will not disrupt Broadway, it will help to bring it into the 21st century with the technology that comes with it.
Nowadays, it is almost a given that every digital platform collects data on us and uses it to personalize recommendations or cater services in order to generate revenue. Just the other day, Google Assistant checked in to an upcoming flight for me. I had no idea it could do that! I am not surprised that Broadway has followed suit. Using a digital assistant, productions can make more money by convincing more people to buy tickets through a concierge-esque with recommendations based on factors like genre, actors, venue security, local restaurants, and accessibility by public transportation, as well as tailoring those recommendations based on the context of the purchase such the device being used to make the purchase and where the purchaser is from. However, it is important to realize that, much to the chagrin of executives everywhere, artificial intelligence is not (yet) able to entirely replace ticketing agents and concierges altogether
I was disappointed with this article. The article makes it sound like the intelligent ticket agent is an enhanced cookies that takes your preferences, or search history, and recommends you theater tickets based on that. While I think it's great that people are looking to technology to enhance the fine arts, I was not impressed by reading about this technology. I also don’t understand how this product makes money. Does it make money by selling the users data or does it take a percentage of the ticketing fee? Since they direct the person to the show’s website they don’t seems to be making money on a price markup. Also, if personal recommendation is still the most popular way people choose shows I would be surprised if this technology could replace that. People are relying on their friends and I don’t see how this technology could replicate that bond and trust. Though I think this product has an interesting idea at its core, this article did not give me a good understanding of how it would work.
This is a very complicated issue for me. One side of me says that it is really sad that we are replacing real, knowledgeable, humans with computers. It definitely cannot be replicated because those people who run the box office are so organized and familiar with the process. The other side of me gets why it’s happening. Theatre is expensive and this is one of many ways to save money is to reduce the number of staff. While very sad, it probably would make the box office a much more efficient organization. I understand why this is happening, but I think we can all agree that it shouldn’t be. The box office is such a well oiled machine and that is because all of the real humans that work in there. The collection of data is a little frightening, but it’s already being done, so if it’ll make the theatre industry some more money than they might as well use the software.
I don't see the need for this technology. It seems as though they are simply replacing jobs with computers that give recommendations to see certain shows, or eat at a certain restaurant, when people can figure that out themselves. I feel like there are many more pressing issues we could be using more advanced technology on than this. I do, however, like that they are using technology in general to make theatre a better experience. This article simply doesn't;t go in much detail about the technology, leaving me quite confused on what it would really do. I also am not quite sure what makes this so special, as many websites already have pre existing programs to give recommendations. AI like this is just another way to stop human interaction, so that we can go on our computer and find out things we need instead of talking to a ticket seller or concierge. I don't think I like this idea very much.
Personally, I believe that AI and machines are meant to do jobs which people are not as well equipped for and box office sales is not one of the things I think replacing living, breathing humans is smart for. Buying Broadway tickets is a difficult hassle, everyone knows that. And no one knows that better than the people that sell tickets. Their personal expertise and knowledge I believe is more useful than replacing them with AI. While an argument can be made for the need to cut down on staff to save money, as far as any customer service job goes, a real person is nearly always better. I can't say I fully or at all understand what the AI experience would achieve if/when put into place so I'd rather play it safe and go with the person who knows their job, the complexities of it, and the people it affects.
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