Artificial Intelligence – AI – is all the talk today. How can it be used appropriately, where is off limits, and how are the ethical boundaries drawn are frequently asked questions. But think ahead 100 years. Technology will have advanced. AI will be even more dominant and humans may be more comfortable with these interactions. What happens when an AI creation aspires to lead from the most powerful seat in our land?
These are the many themes explored in THE AI AT DELPHI, a new play by Bella Poynton, presented by First Look Buffalo Theatre Company in the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center in Williamsville.
First Look Buffalo is committed to presenting new works and highlighting local playwrights: this show checks all the right boxes.
Pythia (Lisa Ludwig) has given life to IZ (Melinda Capeles) through AI, including a physical form, at techno-plant Delphi. IZ is reluctant at first and cautious about how her form is revealed but that doesn’t damp her passion for living a full life…a very full, ambitious life. Pythia, like any good mother, wants the world and then some for the lifeform she created, but is the rest of the world ready for an AI-made leader? Anthros, a human and humanist politician (Jon May) doesn’t believe so, and Delphi tech Calos (Anthony J. Grande) is torn.
This is a complex and fascinating story well told under Jeffrey Coyle’s expert direction. Capeles gives IZ fire and vulnerability: you see her struggle with trying to process compassion and love, the most human emotions. Her stage movement is a joy to watch: she’s giving form to IZ with gentle stretches and pulls as she embodies what non-human life be like. Ludwig, May, and Grande deliver solid performances around her, too, reacting to her fey humanity. This is a tight and cohesive ensemble as they banter and debate in Poynton’s carefully layered story. The presentation and dynamic is very much like watching an episode of The Twilight Zone in the way it intersects science fiction with a traditional morality story. Coyle at el made some very smart and interesting choices, including using AI-generated house music, according to a note in the printed program.
First Look Buffalo is doing exemplary work as a company and made a fine choice to work from the comfortable and lovely theatre space at Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center.
THE AI AT DELPHI runs 90-minutes with a brief intermission until May 19: find details and tickets at firstlookbuffalo.com