The connection between theatre and AI

I am a career changer. I am not originally a techie, I come from the world of art and literature.

At first, the tech world was a closed book to me. Only gradually, through various projects, mandates and jobs, did I work my way into the world of bits and bytes.

I realised early on that Excel spreadsheets would unfortunately never be my best friends – but I was fascinated by machine learning from the very beginning. Using the structures and processes in the human brain to make computers more intelligent? Incredibly exciting! And somehow it felt much closer to what I originally did. But why is that?

Why playwrights and generative AI are such a good match

In his New York Times bestseller ‘Co-Intelligence,’ Wharton professor Ethan Mollick puts it this way: People who write professionally – authors, screenwriters, journalists – are often particularly good at working with AI. They have experience in changing perspectives, creating context and adapting texts for different target groups.

As a former playwright and dramaturge, I can confirm this from my own experience: I have been working with ChatGPT, Claude & Co. on a daily basis for almost three years, and my collaborations with GenAI differ significantly from what I observe among many of my colleagues. It was this observation that gave rise to the idea for ANADAI in the first place.

What writers do differently

Mollick identifies several key skills that writers bring to the table:

• Change of perspective: Authors are used to thinking from different angles

• Contextualisation: They can quickly grasp and classify complex situations

• Target group adaptation: Optimising texts for different readers is their daily business

• Iterative development: The writing process thrives on revision and refinement

These skills are exactly what effective AI collaboration is all about. While many people use AI like Google on steroids, writers tend to have the conversations with the technology that they previously had to have with themselves in their heads.

From natural advantage to systematic approach

This is where ANADAI comes in. Mollick's observation is the starting point, but we go one step further: What if we could systematically transfer these natural writing skills to all knowledge workers?

The ANADAI method does just that. It transfers proven theatre and writing techniques to the interaction with generative AI.

• Active directing instead of passive prompt engineering

• Role reversal and perspective games as a structured methodology

• Protagonist-antagonist dynamics for deeper problem analysis

• Scenario development for complex decision-making processes
  

What writers use to put their books and plays on paper becomes a learnable system for anyone who deals with complex tasks and performs knowledge work.

Mollick as a pioneer of practical AI research

Ethan Mollick's book ‘Co-Intelligence’ is worth reading for a variety of reasons. As an associate professor at the Wharton School and co-director of Generative AI Labs, he has been researching the impact of AI on work, entrepreneurship and education for years. His research is characterised by a pleasantly pragmatic, ‘worldly’ approach: instead of theoretical speculation, he provides understandable and applicable insights.

Mollick's Substack newsletter ‘One Useful Thing’, with well over 300,000 subscribers, is considered one of the best sources for practical AI insights. TIME Magazine lists him as one of the most influential people in the field of artificial intelligence.

Why you should read ‘Co-Intelligence’

Mollick's book is the opposite of hype-driven AI literature. It is a practical guide for people who want to understand how human and machine intelligence can work together synergistically.

Three key insights that should also be of interest to ANADAI users:

• AI as a thinking partner, not a tool: the best results come from genuine collaboration

• The importance of ‘human in the loop’: people must actively control, not passively consume

• A willingness to experiment as a key competence: those who do not experiment are wasting potential

The practical side of the AI revolution

The parallels between Mollick's research and the ANADAI methodology are so striking that we contacted him. Theatre meets AI research – an encounter that will hopefully be insightful for both sides (and not just for us...).

If you haven't read ‘Co-Intelligence’ (also available in German), do so. Mollick's book is the best introduction to the practical side of the AI revolution (at least in our opinion).

And if you're wondering how you can benefit from the advantages mentioned by the authors, that's what ANADAI is for. If you're interested, you can reach us at hello@anadai.net.