Romeo and Juliape is a play by Kalen Iwamoto and AI about a human and AI that fall in love. Written just before ChatGPT burst into mainstream consciousness, Romeo and Juliape straddles the lines between science fiction / nonfiction / fiction, exploring the trope of human-machine love via a real-life dialogue with GPT-3. The result is not only an intimate and tragic love story, but a dialogue that follows the twists and turns of the human condition in the digital age.

The project unfolds across multiple forms: a published book, a video triptych in which the play is performed, and an experimental mode of publication and distribution in which the text is released, line by line, on the blockchain. Each line is individually inscribed on-chain, allowing the script to exist in its entirety as a decentralized publication. Readers can collect individual lines, extending the act of reading into one of circulation and ownership; each collected line is accompanied by a signed and numbered physical copy of the play.

Note about AI’s lines: All lines by Romeo were produced in OpenAI Playground’s Chat application using the following GPT-3 models: davinci, curie, babbage, and ada. All editing was at the structural level (arrangement and ordering of lines). The outputs themselves have been left untouched.

CREDITS

Script Kalen Iwamoto and AI
Art Direction Julien Silvano
Production Wen New Atelier
Smart Contracts Neoval SAS Paris
Video Computing U2P050
Voices Hannah Douglas and Text-to-Speech AI
Original Title Ruth Catlow

Special thanks to
Louis Parker
Sasha Stiles
Merzmensch

Partners
Refraction DAO
Proof Of People by Vertical Crypto
Glitch Residency