Molière Ex Machina: AI used to create ‘new work’ by beloved French playwright

A new play inspired by the 17th-century French playwright Molière has premiered at the Royal Opera in the Château de Versailles, created with the assistance of artificial intelligence. Titled *L’Astrologue ou les Faux Présages* (The Astrologer, or False Omens), the three-act comedy was developed over two and a half years by a team of researchers, artists, and scholars from Sorbonne University in Paris. The project, named Molière Ex Machina, utilized a French AI tool called Le Chat to generate dialogue, music, costumes, and scenery in the style of Molière. The play centers on a wealthy Parisian bourgeois who, under the influence of a fraudulent astrologer named Pseudoramus, insists his daughter marry an elderly, indebted wigmaker. While the plot echoes themes typical of Molière’s satirical works, the production’s unique aspect lies in its creation process. The AI-generated content underwent extensive revision through an iterative collaboration between the AI and a multidisciplinary team, involving around 20,000 exchanges to refine the script and other elements. Director Mickaël Bouffard described the process as demanding, noting that the AI’s initial drafts were limited and required significant rewriting to achieve a believable and coherent result. This innovative blend of classical literature and modern technology highlights AI’s potential in creative fields, especially in reviving and reinterpreting historical artistic styles. Critics have noted the AI’s ability to mimic Molière’s wit and tone as “striking” and “entirely believable,” underscoring the technology’s growing sophistication. The project also raises questions about the future role of AI in the arts, particularly in how it can complement human creativity rather than replace it. Molière Ex Machina exemplifies a pioneering approach to theatrical production, combining historical scholarship with cutting-edge AI tools to explore new artistic possibilities. It reflects broader trends in digital humanities and artificial intelligence, where technology is increasingly used to preserve, analyze, and extend cultural heritage. The success of this experimental play may inspire further collaborations between AI and the arts, potentially transforming how classic works are studied and performed.