HowlRound Theatre Commons: I recently heard that a large theatre organization screened plays for a competition by feeding them into a large language model (LLM). Then, I read two more accounts on a playwriting forum about other theatres that did this for marketing or public relations purposes. A couple of months ago, this happened to me firsthand. I learned that a theatre put a draft of my new play into an LLM to generate marketing materials. I expressed my concern to the theatre immediately, and I corresponded with a lawyer at the Dramatists Guild of America who gave me language that I could incorporate into my plays moving forward.
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AI has truly ruined a lot of things. I appreciate reading articles by artists who agree with me about AI and its uses/the ways it should and should not be used. I hate when people say “it is here and it will continue to evolve so we must learn to use it and work with it” when in reality we really do not need to use it or give in to the pressure of society convincing us that it is a good thing. I think that AI could have its uses and could potentially have become a useful tool, but I do not believe that humanity has taken it that way. If people had developed AI in a way that does not use so much water and/or in a way that does not allow people to use it as a creative alternative but instead as a way to make some things more accessible, maybe I would feel differently.
I am so glad this person took a step up to speak out and communicate these important ideas when it comes to approaching AI in the theatre industry and practically in the world at all. It is extremely detrimental and goes against a lot of the basic ideas of creating art. It goes against the concept of art itself and what is supposed to go into it. Art involving AI, is not art at all, it loses its meaning the minute AI gets involved. The fact that people’s writing is being put through AI for review or marketing without their consent or initial knowledge is deplorable. It is stealing and I hope better legislature is put in place regarding this because it should be against the law. The reality that we don’t have proper AI regulation right now is terrifying and disgusting to me. This writer also really made me think about how big of a role capitalism plays in the use of AI and how much that speaks to the society we live in. All of this should be discussed more often and more publicly, the fact it isn’t is a sign that something is very wrong.
When scrolling through my article options, I didn't know how to receive this title. I pondered that there was some play incapable of being input into an LLM somehow. After reading way too long without realizing it, I finally understood that the title is more of a warning or statement toward those that would try to put the article into an AI. It reminds me that AI policy must be reformed as soon as possible. The authors are absolutely right that the use of other people’s work in LLMs is piracy. It is incapable of making original content, as it just creates an aggregate or average of data. Their concern is undoubtedly valid and something that theatre artists share all the time. Fortunately for theatre artists, a lot of their value lies inherently in audiences seeing people on stage, supported by people offstage, and it all being in person. That’s the benefit of “AI slop.” As it continues, I have a lot of hope that social media and AI will become even less fulfilling, emphasizing the value of live theatre.
I keep coming back to the quote, “Is the goal to move faster than the speed of human being? To exceed our capacities as mortals? If so, it feels like we are missing the point of theatre entirely.” I think this is a really good argument about the general use of AI, and one I agree with strongly- the entire point of theater, of performance at all, of making ART at all- is to make something that other people resonate with. To share a feeling, to find connection through a story. To initiate that story without humanity does not promote the kind of human connection that the very act of creating depends upon for existing. What is art without humans to create and interpret it? What is theater if the story that is apparently enforcing a human feeling was not created with the human experience in mind? What’s the point?
I really appreciate this author’s description of theatre/other industries feeding AI content back into AI processes as an ouroboros. This is something I have been thinking about a lot, particularly how AI content becomes more and more generic as it feeds upon itself. Which is the exact opposite of what theatre should be aspiring to be, so I feel it is crucial that theatremakers generally avoid using generative AI. It really sucks to hear that there are some theatres feeding new plays into LLMs to generate marketing content, especially because for that playwright it’s discounting the way their work will appear to the audience. It also sucks because that LLM very well may incorporate the playwright’s work into its dataset without their consent. I hate the empty, featureless genAI writing voice that I can feel popping up more and more across the internet. It sickens me and makes a mockery of concepts and works that might otherwise be interesting.
this is genuinely not OK. I can’t believe that these theaters decided that it was OK to feed large language models because they’re just learning and feeding off of this art not to get better but just to take more and more water. I really hate the use make any sense. I love this idea of mind fracking because I think that that’s so perfect and makes complete sense for what is happening because that’s exactly what this is. It’s not even taking away from talented people. It’s taking away from people in general, it doesn’t matter if there’s talent it doesn’t matter if there’s love or whatever into the work, a large language model won’t do these things even in a way that humans who don’t do those things. But nevertheless, theater is a labor of love and a testament of human identity and AI will never understand that.
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