# Collaborative Storytelling with Human Actors and AI Narrators

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.14728 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.14728/

## Key facts

- Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 33 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Sep 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Universal Sentence Encoder](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.11175/) (2018)
- [A Neural Conversational Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.05869/) (2015)
- [Alignment of Language Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14659/) (2021)
- [Grounding Conversations with Improvised Dialogues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.09544/) (2020)
- [Collaborative Storytelling with Large-scale Neural Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.10208/) (2020)
- [Improbotics: Exploring the Imitation Game using Machine Intelligence in Improvised Theatre](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.01807/) (2018)
- [dAIrector: Automatic Story Beat Generation through Knowledge Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.03423/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [Co-Writing Screenplays and Theatre Scripts with Language Models: An Evaluation by Industry Professionals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14958/) (2022)
- [Dungeons and Dragons as a Dialog Challenge for Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.07109/) (2022)
- [A Robot Walks into a Bar: Can Language Models Serve as Creativity Support Tools for Comedy? An Evaluation of LLMs' Humour Alignment with Comedians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20956/) (2024)
- [How AI Ideas Affect the Creativity, Diversity, and Evolution of Human Ideas: Evidence From a Large, Dynamic Experiment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.13481/) (2024)
- [What Makes a Good Story and How Can We Measure It? A Comprehensive Survey of Story Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.14622/) (2024)
- [The Theater Stage as Laboratory: Review of Real-Time Comedy LLM Systems for Live Performance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.08474/) (2025)
- [Designing and Evaluating Dialogue LLMs for Co-Creative Improvised Theatre](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.07111/) (2024)
- [Collaborative Storytelling and LLM: A Linguistic Analysis of Automatically-Generated Role-Playing Game Sessions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20623/) (2025)
- [Engagement Undermines Safety: How Stereotypes and Toxicity Shape Humor in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.18454/) (2025)
- [Creativity in the Age of AI: Evaluating the Impact of Generative AI on Design Outputs and Designers' Creative Thinking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.00168/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models can be used for collaborative storytelling. In this work we report on using GPT-3 citebrown2020language to co-narrate stories. The AI system must track plot progression and character arcs while the human actors perform scenes. This event report details how a novel conversational agent was employed as creative partner with a team of professional improvisers to explore long-form spontaneous story narration in front of a live public audience. We introduced novel constraints on our language model to produce longer narrative text and tested the model in rehearsals with a team of professional improvisers. We then field tested the model with two live performances for public audiences as part of a live theatre festival in Europe. We surveyed audience members after each performance as well as performers to evaluate how well the AI performed in its role as narrator. Audiences and performers responded positively to AI narration and indicated preference for AI narration over AI characters within a scene. Performers also responded positively to AI narration and expressed enthusiasm for the creative and meaningful novel narrative directions introduced to the scenes. Our findings support improvisational theatre as a useful test-bed to explore how different language models can collaborate with humans in a variety of social contexts.