Egyptian Gazette column urges theatre artists to keep AI in a supporting role

An Egyptian Gazette opinion column has argued that artificial intelligence should support theatre artists’ work rather than displace their creative judgment. Mahmoud Kamel wrote that systems able to generate text and images, imitate voices and handle routine tasks may help creative teams, but cannot by themselves make a successful work of theatre.

The column places AI alongside a longer history of theatre adopting lighting, sound, stage design and visual effects to tell stories in new ways. Its central test is whether technology serves a production’s artistic purpose without eroding the human experience that distinguishes live performance.

AI could help playwrights explore a character or dramatic situation, prepare preliminary text, suggest ideas and develop scenes, Kamel argued. A director might use computer-generated images to convey an initial concept to a production team, while designers could compare possible settings before choosing one.

But the value of such material rests on the artist who examines, selects and develops it. A machine-generated scene must still suit the play and advance the playwright’s and director’s ideas, the column said. Theatre’s engagement with love, fear, suffering, hope, conflict and human behaviour requires interpretation and understanding beyond generated words or images.

The article also considered augmented and virtual reality. It described augmented reality as adding digital elements to a physical setting, potentially allowing scenes that would be difficult or prohibitively expensive to build conventionally. Its example of Communal Augmented Reality – Live, or CARL, combined AR with the shared experience of live performance while retaining the physical stage.

Virtual reality, by contrast, places participants in a simulated digital environment and can let audiences explore a designed space from different positions. The work of the Belgian group CREW was cited as an illustration of immersive VR theatre. Yet the column cautioned that immersive technology is not automatically artistically superior: physical performers, audience response and unexpected live moments remain important, while unconnected digital effects can distract from story, character and atmosphere.

A systematic review of 30 peer-reviewed articles in An-Najah University Journal for Research found promise in AI-generated scripts and audience-interaction systems, but also limits in emotional depth, stylistic consistency, real-time responsiveness and preserving creative control. It recommended tools that give directors and performers greater agency and integrate with established theatre practices.

Broadway Media has made a similar argument, saying technology should expand what theatre-makers can accomplish rather than remove the artist from the process. Kamel’s conclusion was that AI should be used responsibly and effectively as an assistant, not as a replacement for artists.