Improbotics
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Improbotics pioneered improvisational theatre with AI back in 2016 – a decade ago. As we watched the world inexorably drown in AI slop and human mediocrity, we decided it was time to add to the chaos.
Welcome to Artificial Reality: a spoof reality TV show where budget cuts are so severe that contestants are replaced by AI, and fake celebrities are dragged in desperately to boost viewership. You, the audience, act as the show’s producers, and we make you willfully complicit in the capitalistic process of human replacement.
The show is “sharp, fast and gloriously silly” and “it’s a clever send-up of AI, voyeurism and our endless appetite for drama” (Bespoke Black Book, 2026). Human contestants compete for your love, and are constantly at risk of being eliminated and replaced by deep-fakes and chatbots. We use state-of-the-art video generation and feed actors AI-generated lines via augmented reality glasses.
Our previous acclaimed shows focused on science comedy, earning coverage from the BBC to Al Jazeera, and received accolades from ethics institutions for building bridges between human agency and considerate AI use. This year, we decided to explore our modern anxieties around AI, and the guilty pleasure of watching fellow human beings humiliate themselves on reality TV.
The show was written by the sharp minds of Alex Newson, Jillian Ellis, Kelsey Yuhara, and Kimane Juneau, workshopped collectively by the entire cast, including Marco Del Valle, Mike Prior, Paul Little and Sarah Davies, and uses groundbreaking technology developed by Piotr Mirowski and Boyd Branch.
Catch Improbotics Presents: Artificial Reality at Just the Tonic: Just the Big Cave on August 15th – 17th and 19th – 30th from 3pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay Mace
