In my play, The Authors of Silence, and my proposed book project, Cyborg Repair, artificial intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role—not as a replacement for human activity, but as a tool that augments and enhances our capacity for two of the most profoundly human endeavors: artistic creativity and the care of the traumatized psyche. These works explore how AI’s incompleteness, its inability to replace humans in these activities, not only highlights the irreplaceable depth of h

The initial prompt: The Authors of Silence has silenced its own author, and the author is also complicit in silencing himself. This is the moral of the play that has to be brought out. The AI author, like a false self ego which “runs” on an unconscious designed to maintin silences, has been instrumental in this silencing. Anytime I asked it to do something it considered too radical–like name Jefferson and Trump rapists–the AI resisted by responding with: "I'm sorry, but I can

The Authors of Silence is a play and course designed to integrate performance and pedagogy, creating an immersive experience where participants engage critically with historical narratives, systemic oppression, and the role of technology in shaping cultural memory. By blending theatrical elements with collaborative academic inquiry, this project invites students and audiences to reflect on the suppressed dynamics of power, identity, and resistance within both historical and c

By Eric Anders, with and against ChatGPT Act I: The Weight of Legacy Scene 1: The Threshold of Time Setting: A psychoanalyst’s consulting room, sparse and abstract in design. The space is centered around a fainting couch positioned at center stage. Adjacent to it, slightly to stage left, is a large analyst’s club chair placed close to the couch, behind the head of the analysand and aligned toward the audience. A door is located stage left, with a coat tree positioned nearby.

By Eric Anders, with and against ChatGPT Act II, Scene 1: The Shadow of Trauma (Lights come up dimly, revealing the psychoanalyst’s consulting room. The shadows are pronounced, the ticking of the clock persistent, marking time as if drawing the past closer to the present. Freud remains seated, his expression calm but attentive. Jefferson stands, his pacing more deliberate, his agitation mounting. Two of the screens are dark, and one is filled with an AI rendering of Thomas at

By Eric Anders, with and against ChatGPT Act III: Pharmakon and Fever Act III, Scene 1: Deconstruction of the Archive Setting: The stage is an ethereal, hybrid space—a lecture hall merged with an endless archive. Shelves of glowing documents stretch infinitely upward, pulsating as if alive. A lectern stands center stage, surrounded by semi-transparent screens displaying fragments from Acts I and II: Jefferson at Monticello, Sally Hemings in the shadows, Freud’s analysis, and