How can research in dramaturgy, conversation analysis, and computer science come together to create such as system?
Paradise Family — Variations, a radio play (in Finnish) scripted with AI, possibly tells about a family. The family possibly lives in Helsinki and possibly has a summer cabin somewhere, perhaps on an island in Porvoo. The family possibly consists of three adults; the daughter perhaps has a spouse.
Tekoälyn avulla käsikirjoitettu kuunnelma Paratiisiperhe — variaatioita kertoo ehkä perheestä. Perheellä on ehkä koti Helsingissä ja mahdollisesti mökki jossakin, kenties Porvoon saaristossa. Perheessä on ehkä kolme aikuista lasta, tyttärellä kenties puoliso.
Yle Draaman, Helsingin yliopiston tietojenkäsittelytieteen osaston ja Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulun yhteistyönä on syntynyt jopa kansainvälisesti kiinnostava pioneerityö, tietokoneen käsikirjoittama pitkä radiodraama. -- Tältä pohjalta voisi kuvitella, että pioneerityön lähtökohdaksi olisi otettu kaavamainen draama, kuten dekkari tai tieteisfiktio. Mutta Paratiisiperhe yllättää. Se on taidekuunnelma, tosin kyllä sekin on oman kaavansa löytänyt.
Links to radio programmes:
The original intention of the project was to explore whether artificial intelligence could be utilized to create radio plays—and if so, how. The project then focused on computational generation of dialogue for radio plays.
The first concrete outcome of the project, a series of generated dialogues, was produced in autumn 2019. The original AI software was improved iteratively until in 2020, when the Finnish broadcasting company YLE took over the scripts and started production of radio drama based on them.
Initiated by dramaturge Juha-Pekka Hotinen of YLE in 2016, this multidisciplinary project has been funded by YLE, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Helsinki.
Participating researchers have included Otso Huopaniemi (Professor of Dramaturgy and Playwriting, Uniarts Helsinki), Hannu Toivonen (Professor of Computer Science, University of Helsinki), and Marja-Leena Sorjonen (Professor of Finnish, University of Helsinki). The team members that have been hired to work on the project are Essi Salmenkivi, Jessica Lindström, and Ville-Veikko Saari.