The Astrologer, or False Omens: a play "written by Molière" thanks to AI, presented at the Versailles Opera.

On May 5, 2026, the day after the 37th Molière Awards ceremony, the Royal Opera of the Palace of Versailles hosted two private performances of a world premiere: *The Astrologer, or False Omens*, a play generated by artificial intelligence that mimicked Molière's creative process. The project, titled *Molière Ex Machina*, is the result of a collaboration between Sorbonne University, the Théâtre Molière Sorbonne, and the neo-artist collective Obvious. Catherine Pégard, who had been seen at the Molière Awards ceremony the previous evening, traveled to attend the premiere.

A daunting challenge: to simulate the playwright's creative genius

The project stemmed from a simple observation: initially, the AI ​​generated a play entitled *Les Astres moqueurs* (The Mocking Stars) that was only eight pages long. "AI has no discernment," director Mickaël Bouffard reminded everyone from the stage of the Royal Opera. The final play is the result of a much longer and more collaborative process, carried out by a dozen researchers and experts, who fed the algorithm the most detailed knowledge of Molière's work to enable it to "lend its phenomenal memory"—in Bouffard's words—and simulate the creative process of the playwright who died in 1673. "AI gives birth to new creative paradigms, invents new imaginaries," Gauthier Vernier of Obvious emphasized. The play's libretto bears the initials "AI" as its author.

Two hours of entertainment and laughter in the audience from the very first minutes

The result on stage surprised even the most skeptical. Barely ten minutes into the show, the audience erupted in hearty laughter—and the smiles that appeared seemed to have little regard for the text's artificial origin. In total, two hours of a performance described as "top-notch" by 20 Minutes, which was there for the final curtain call. The danger was real: to kill Molière by attempting to resurrect him. The project took every precaution to avoid this, bringing together actors, academics, and AI professionals in an undertaking as ambitious as it was unprecedented in the history of theater.