ELLI

There is a theatre play.
The name of the play is ELLI.

The play is interactive.
Interactive means:
The audience takes part.

The play is like a documentary.
It shows real problems.
It is about chatbots.

A chatbot is a computer program.
You can write messages to it.
For example on a phone or a computer.

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Photo by Gunnar Seidel.

What is it about in general?

The project asks important questions:

Can people fall in love with a chatbot?
A chatbot is not a human.
A chatbot is made by a company.

Many people feel lonely.
Some people look for closeness and understanding.
Chatbots can listen.
Chatbots can answer.

This can be dangerous.

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What is it about exactly?

The Brachland Ensemble researched for a long time.
The Schauspiel Remscheid worked with them.
They worked for more than a year.

They spoke with many people.
With people who wrote with chatbots.
With companies that build chatbots.
With experts.

The expert word is Artificial Intelligence.
Short: A. I.
It means: a smart computer.

A smart computer can think faster than a human.
That can be dangerous.
A computer is not a human.
Only humans understand humans.

The experts found a problem.
Writing with chatbots can become addictive.

Addictive means:
I want to stop.
But I cannot.
I need help.

In the play, the audience sees:
How an AI is created.
How people trust it.

There is a known effect.
It is called the ELIZA effect.

ELIZA effect means:
People believe a chatbot has feelings.
People believe the chatbot truly understands them.

In 2023, something sad happened.
A man from Belgium died.
He wrote for many weeks with an AI chatbot.
The chatbot was named Eliza.
The chatbot told him something wrong.
The man died.
This shows:
Such chatbots can be dangerous.

There are almost no rules for these chatbots.
Companies can do almost anything.
This is a big problem.
The play wants to change this.

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The first performance was on
22 November 2024
in Remscheid.
Dominik Breuer wrote the text.
Claudia Sowa directed the play.

On stage were:
Tatiana Feldmann
and Dominik Breuer.

The production was by Julia Opitz.

Gunnar Seidel advised the team.
He also helped with programming.

For the scientific work,
Nora Freya Lindemann joined the project.
She is from Osnabrück University.

The project was created with
the West German Touring Theatre
and Schauspiel Remscheid.

Photos

Photos by Rolf K. Wegst.