Human + Machine Art-AI

HumanMachine AI Improv

Thu 3 May, 8.15pm

Albert – AKA Piotr Mirowski – is a lovable nerd who dreams of the big stage. Lonely but resourceful, Albert builds himself a friend, whom he calls A.L.Ex, a unique computer creation running Artificial Intelligence.

Albert and A.L.Ex will share the stage alonsgside remote hacker friend mYlez (Kory Mathewson) to perfom an improvised set that asks: Could a robot have a sense of humour? Could it make you cry or jump from joy?

Blurring the boundaries between humans and machines, the audience will play role of judges in a Turing test to distinguish between the biological and artificial intelligence – will you be able to spot which one is which?

More about the artists:

Piotr Mirowski is a research scientist in artificial intelligence as well as a theatre and improv actor who aims to bridge the arts and sciences. Piotr studied computer science in France and obtained his PhD in deep learning at New York University. He has a decade-long experience of machine learning in industrial research labs, where he developed solutions for epileptic seizure prediction from EEG, robotic navigation and natural language processing.

Performance-wise, Piotr trained in Toulouse, New York and London, as an actor at the LSDA – London School of Dramatic Art and as an improviser with The Showstoppers, The Nursery, Hoopla, teachers from UCB Comedy, City Academy, Imprology, Gotham City Improv, QUICKTHINKING! Improv and C cédille.

Piotr was a member of New York-based improv volunteering charity Cherub Improv and London-based short form group Improvable. His shared passion for performing arts and AI drew him to co-create (with Kory Mathewson) HumanMachine and Improbotics, two artistic experiments fusing improv and AI.

Piotr’s collaborator in the performance is Kory, a PhD student at the University of Alberta and an award-winning improv comedian.