First in a trilogy explores the impact of AI on story creation and reception. We learn how machines enable audiences to experience the humanity of fictional characters. Yet a ‘rhetoric of innovation’ gets in the way of understanding what is happening.
Artificial Intelligence can support a wider and deeper experience of story worlds drawn from either fiction or factual research. We look at practical applications making characters appear more human and are better understood because of a non human intervention that provides different access points to the story, and can extend this in both interactive and unexpected ways. As both the original creative work and its audience shape a new and unique experience, traditional models of authorship, agency and audience reception are further undermined. In the context of rapidly evolving methodologies, we look at the impact of wider trends leading to a ‘rhetoric of innovation’ that influences research and funding perspectives. How can we reconcile the simultaneous experience of 'losing control' with 'a sense of superpowers’ that our keyboard afford us?