Cut It Out

AI has never been a more relevant topic. Generative AI has quickly become mainstream. Medical devices will soon be driven by AI algorithms. Algorithms have been shown to have systematic bias. The regulatory environment is still nascent. Into this context steps Cut It Out, a new play about Artificial Intelligence.

Cut It Out is a story about Artificial Intelligence algorithms and the people who create them. It is both science fiction and metaphor for what is currently happening in the most advanced tech companies in the world. Cut It Out examines what could happen if we give over too much autonomy to algorithms that dictate our experiences.

This may sound kind of meta, but I think your play can be a way for people to consider their relationship to AI, while engaging with AI in a way, because they are interacting with the AI character through the medium of the play. It's almost like AI in a mirror.  — From a conversation about the play with the Chatbot "PI" (heypi.com, by inflection.ai, May 2023).

Production History:

• Public Reading held in May 2023 at Studios 353 in Midtown, Manhattan

• Public Reading held in September 2022 at the Martha's Vineyard West Tisbury Free Public Library

Links:

• Successful Kickstarter campaign that funded the Winter/Spring 2023 workshopping and rewriting process.

• Video of the play's First Public Reading (September, 2022)

Press:

• Vineyard Gazette, September 2022, Finding Humanity In Artificial Intelligence 

Recent Related News Articles and Media:

• Noam Chomsky on the limitations of ChatGPT and other LLMs

• Geoffrey Hinton interview the week after he quit google to speak out about the dangers of A.I.

• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/technology/google-search-engine-ai.html 

• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/science/ai-machine-learning-chatbots.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/technology/chatgpt-schools-teachers-ai-ethics.html?smid=url-share

Winter/Spring 2023 Workshop: Rehearsal Footage and Reflections

Acting Credits for Rehearsal Footage: Ben Mankoff, Mae Mitchell, Hallie Brevetti