Beyond the Fence is scheduled to premiere in London at the start of next year. It’s set to be featured by Sky Arts in their forthcoming series ‘Computer Says Show’.
Staged in September 1982, Beyond the Fence tells the story of Mary and her daughter George during their time at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women like Mary went to Greenham Common to non-violently protest the arrival of US cruise missiles. Soon, Mary is faced with the torture of losing her child to the authorities, when an US Airman Jim Meadow offers to help. She quickly faces the challenge of keeping her only child while not turning against her morals. As the producers write: “Beyond the Fence is a powerful new musical about hope, defiance, unity and love”.
The Technology Behind it All:
The show’s producers collaborated with several different AI computer systems to create this unique work of art.
To start, they visited Cambridge University, where researchers at the Machine Learning Group used predictive software along with big data analysis of what made past musicals in the industry successful. This includes variables such as backdrop, size of cast, music, and even the importance/lack of importance of romance in the show.
The plot details of the show were created by the What-If Machine from the University of London. By feeding the machine the prompt “What if a wounded soldier had to learn how to understand a child in order to find true love?”, the machine outputted several premises and characters that could be used. The actual structure of the plot was conducted by another system known as PropperWryter, which built the core narrative arc of the production.
Scared this is the start of the machine uprising?
Don’t be. This isn’t Skynet. Humans were still heavily needed in order to tie all these pieces of the puzzle together. “This is not about taking humans out of the creative process at all,” said producer Catherine Gale. Without intervention from humans, the lyrics created by the AI machines read like gibberish. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this particular example generated by Cloud Lyricist(the program tasked with writing the lyrics of the musical): “On a reporter favorite who has made a career of a crime the last end of a place that disappeared with all the words that could see to anyone never let me in an underwear song when they remember.” It’s clear to see then that machines are simply mimicking what they see from the English language rather than generating their own unique thoughts, emotions and opinions—They are far from sentient. While they might understand basic linguistic syntax, these machines have yet to grasp the semantics of language that are needed in order to actually communicate thoughts.
However, this seems like the first step into the “future” where humans and machines can work together to create something that isn’t entirely connected to the traditional STEM fields. This is known as “Computational creativity”. We have always considered liberal arts and the humanities to be the epitome of human creativity and wonder, but we are starting to drift away from that. This isn’t being done strictly for the sake of convenience(in the way that one might use a phone app to calculate how much to tip their waiter, rather than mentally calculate 20% of the price of their Jack Daniel’s ®Burger). At least in the short term, humans will always be superior to computers in creative fields for the simple fact that machines are not yet sentient.
So, Broadway producers: don’t panic, your jobs are safe. For now…
