Throughout its history of development, performing arts has always been a mirror reflecting human life, from classical theater to contemporary plays, from body language to language, light and sound. But in the rapid digital age, when artificial intelligence is no longer a strange concept but has become a part of many areas of life, stage art is also starting a journey of profound transformation. At Stanford University, director and lecturer Michael Rau has been leading a wave of innovation, where artificial intelligence is not only an auxiliary tool but has become a central element in unique, exploratory artistic experiments.
As someone who always believes that the stage needs to accurately reflect contemporary life experiences, Mr. Michael Rau did not hesitate to ask the big question: How can technology, especially AI, be effectively brought to the stage, not losing humanity but also enriching storytelling art? From using AI to create a surreal image in real time for a play, to having a large language model write lines based on suggestions from the audience, he is redefining how a play can be formed, performed and felt.
However, this change is not only excited but also accompanied by many concerns. People began to ask questions about copyright, about the original of the work, and most importantly: Does anyone overshadow the role of people in the process of creating art? These controversy not only exist in the art world but also spread to the academic community, technology and the audience - who are gradually approaching a different stage, where the boundary between people and the machine becomes faint.
Re-defining storytelling
In his journey to discover new ways of storytelling, Michael Rau did not hesitate to step into the world of AI as a way to refresh stage language. With the support of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence to center on humans at Stanford, he experimented with 3 bold directions, each opening up different perspectives on performing arts and the ability to interact between humans and machines in creating stage emotions.
One of the outstanding methods is the use of AI to create real-time images. In this approach, a video camera transmits live from the stage to an AI system. Based on pre-set suggestions, AI will process and transform the actors' images, creating new layers of images - whether it is a dream, an alternative story or even a different aspect of space - and then show them directly on stage. As a result, the audience not only watches a play with their eyes but also experiences emotions through metaphorical and imagined visual layers.
Michael vegetables also push the limit of the theater language when putting a large language model into the dialogue. In some shows, the audience was invited to play the role of creative by sending suggestions. These suggestions are entered into AI system, then produce a new script. The dialogue was transformed into a synthetic voice and then passed through the headset to each actor on stage. Actors do not need to hold the script or read from the screen, but instinctively reacts to the lines they have just heard for the first time. It is this surprise and spontaneity that has brought vivid energy and unconscious for the show.
Not only stopping at content creation, he and his colleagues also developed an AI-based pose analysis tool. This is an academic tool that can recreate the three-dimensional image of the actor's pose in each frame. This application opens up a completely new approach to stage, film and even political analysis research, when gestures and body language become data that can be analyzed quantistically.
Although these creations are still in the experimental stage, they show great potential for integrating AI into performing arts. Michael Rau not only considers AI a technical tool but also a silent co-star - where each data, each algorithm can open up new layers of meaning. In his eyes, technology does not overshadow human personality, but on the contrary, if used carefully and purposefully, it can deepen the connection between the performer and the audience, between artists and society.
There are still controversies
Innovation in performing arts is always accompanied by controversy, and as AI becomes a part of the creative process, questions about ethics, legality and artistic philosophy become even more painful. Although Michael Rau has tried to maintain the central role of humans in his projects, many opinions are still concerned that AI can fade the identity and emotions that are at the core of performing arts.
One of the biggest controversies revolves around copyright and intellectual property issues. AI systems are trained on huge amounts of data - which can include images, dialogue, and styles of other artists without clear permission. When a new script is born by AI, who will be the owner? Artists, AI developers, or the machine learning system itself? This question is not easy to answer, especially in an artistic environment where the original element and personal mark are always emphasized.
In addition, many critics and artists are concerned about the one-stop impact that AI can have. As the creative process becomes dependent on algorithms, there is a risk that artistic products will become more and more formulated, lacking uniqueness and diversity in expression. AI systems, no matter how advanced, can only learn from available data - which can lead to the reproduction of old models, instead of creating truly new things.
Michael Rau also admitted when sharing these concerns. As an artist, he understands that creativity is a deeply personal experience, not completely replaced by machines. If AI becomes a composer instead of humans, the performance process can lose the random, emotional, and even mistake elements - the things that create the authenticity and uniqueness of each performance.
In addition, there is another risk that is less mentioned but has a long-term impact: The passionation of artists. As AI increasingly takes on many roles in art production, there may be a relying mentality, where artists no longer need to explore, experiment or learn as before. This goes against the nature of art, which is always a journey to continuously find new things, unknown things.
However, as Michael Rau himself shared, technology is always changing art - from oil lighting to electric lights, from wood stage to interactive designs. The problem is not technology, but how we choose to use it. AI, if used responsibly, can completely become a reliable co-creator, bringing new abilities that humans alone are unlikely to achieve.
At the time of the intersection between tradition and innovation, performing arts is standing at a historical threshold. No one knows for sure what the future will be like, but it is certain: The dialogue between people and machines will continue, not only on stage, but also in the minds of each artist, each audience - those who are witnessing a silent but profound revolution in the world of performance.
