Molière Ex Machina: AI used to create ‘new work’ by beloved French playwright

Léa Sorrentino and Melvin Fauchoux perform in L’Astrologue ou les Faux Présages (The Astrologer, or False Omens), created using AI. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/Reuters

Molière is to the French what Shakespeare is to the English: the last word in historical literature, drama, wit and satire.

Now, more than 350 years after his death, the 17th-century dramatist has been revived after scholars at the Sorbonne University in Paris used artificial intelligence to help write an experimental play in his style.