AI Writes a Molière Play: A Modern Pastiche Born in Paris

French scientists and artists have created a play using AI in the style of Molière.

Researchers from the Sorbonne and the collective Obvious spent two years training artificial intelligence on the works of the 17th-century playwright. The result is the comedy “The Astrologer, or False Omens”—a story about a gullible father, a fake astrologer, and a cunning servant.

The project began as a scientific experiment to recreate Molière’s creative process with historical accuracy. The AI generated the plot, but the team had to refine it extensively—the algorithm struggled with structure and had difficulty capturing the author’s satirical humor. Specialists in Molière’s work helped “polish” the text.

A premiere of an excerpt took place in Paris, and the full version, with scenery and costumes also created by neural networks, will be presented in May in Versailles. Although the project has drawn criticism (some consider it disrespectful to heritage), its creators see AI as a tool for artistic exploration—for example, for hypothetically completing lost works.