Drama and the Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in Africa

Drama is a living art form and a literary work devoted to the performance of plots by actors for an audience. Consequently, the use of algorithms by the artist to facilitate their production or enrich the representation raises ethical issues. This study, which focuses on African drama, examines the challenges of using artificial intelligence (AI) in this art form, which is deeply rooted in human emotion. The hypothesis underlying this reflection is that AI, as a product of scientific and societal development, is becoming indispensable to drama specialists, who must embrace it for the survival of their art. Based on sociological criticism and dramatic semiology, the research has provided convincing results. Indeed, this technology, which enables computers to perform tasks traditionally associated with humans, has emerged as both a working tool and a creative instrument accessible to the African practitioners: playwright, actor, and stage director. Moreover, its use, which multiplies the artist’s capabilities, is revolutionizing African drama. Transformed, optimized by AI, drama, living art and co-presence, reconfigures its conditions of creation, production and reception, while remaining a human, collective and incarnated experience. This hybridization is part of the continuity of African drama, which responds to the demands of scientific and societal development.