Improbotics is a transnational, interdisciplinary theatre company experimenting with improvised comedy where human actors perform alongside artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots and robots. It functions as a theatre laboratory that bridges the arts and sciences to develop AI technology, conduct academic research, and stage entertaining shows for the general audience. Co-design between actors and AI developers enables synergies where playful, creative, and exploratory interests of artists stimulate novel ludic applications of technology originally designed for pragmatic purpose, and technology itself inspires novel forms of performance. The company explores aspects of AI deeply embedded within modern human culture, from chatbots and machine translation to video communication, and integrates them within traditional performances and cultural spaces.

Improbotics is based in 4 different countries (UK, Canada, Belgium, Sweden), and during the pandemic, has rehearsed and practiced together online in virtual reality. It has also designed a theatre show around real-time live translation and the comedy of (speech recognition) errors in the attempt to blur linguistic boundaries.

Integrating live AI within traditional performance practice fosters a co-creative ethos where the AI becomes experienced as a creativity support tool and then ultimately an anthropomorphised stage partner that actors endow with personality through role-play. The cast members in turn, find humour and inspiration from both limitations and possibilities stemming from imperfect AI.

This experiential trajectory of the performer has become a design focus where we use AI to engage the public about the risks of AI to human culture while also presenting a co-creative mindset to technology as a tool for cultural creation. Our shows are co-created with audiences who act as allies for the actors and technologists, experimenting together on stage as they try to make sense, in real-time, of the uncanny presence of a seemingly intelligent and creative technology.

The focus on playfulness and celebration of failure encourages a different kind of exploration with the technology, and lowers the barrier to entry to experimental work with AI. The success of our troupe both in finding new forms and modalities of live performance through and with technology as well developing novel technologies with applications both for live performance and other ludic domains may rely on the core improvisational activity of accepting the offer- whatever it may be- from the other objects encountered on stage. Following this logic of acceptance and collaboration shifts the nature of interaction with AI from replacement to empowerment and enhancement for human creativity.