The King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence presents a workshop concert of 'Humans in the Loop'. Prepare for a fast, funny, thought-provoking new musical about AI...written and performed by humans.

AI helpers are getting increasingly involved in our day-to-day: a guilty secret for some, a way of life for others. But not many users know much about the hidden human beings steering the technology.

Feverishly written by two flesh-and-bone humans (librettist and lyricist Lucy Bell, and composer and James Joshua Otto), before their jobs are taken by the bots, 'Humans in the Loop' is inspired by a few pressing questions:

What are the long-term ambitions of tech giants? Whose personal info is feeding the machine? Who are the low-paid workers training AI? And what do you get an AI best friend for their birthday?

Let four actor musicians take you on a sonic journey to meet a vivid cast of characters: from space-colonising tech bros chasing the AGI dream, to precariously-employed data labellers, via our own roles freely donating the most intimate training data. We are all humans in the loop.

You do not need any prior knowledge of AI to enjoy this event. 

Register on Eventbrite. 

This event will be held in a venue that sells alcohol and food. If you want to make an evening of it, sign up for Magic, Minds, and the Mysteries of AI which is happening after this event from 19.30 to 20.30.

Humans in the Loop is supported by the Department of Informatics, the King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence and King’s Culture. It is presented as part of King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence and as part of Lost & Found: Stories of sanctuary and belonging, a free programme of arts and ideas at King’s College London, presented by King's Culture and created with artists, researchers, academics and communities from London and beyond.

Performers

Siobhan Athwal

Winning critical acclaim from publications The Guardian, The Stage and The Times, award nominee Siobhan has originated roles in BBC, ITV and Channel 5 dramas and for the stage including: The National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Royal Opera House, Piccadilly Theatre, Everyman Playhouse and Stratford East collaborating with creatives Nikolai Foster, Jennifer Saunders, David Baddiel, Gurinder Chadha and Luke Sheppard to name a few.

Nicholas Carter

Nicholas trained at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Regency Award for Notable Achievement. While training, he appeared as Martin Guerre in This Is the Hour, a gala celebrating the music of Claude-Michel Schönberg (dir. James Powell) and as Gradgrind in Hard Times (dir. John Caird). He made his professional debut as a Swing in Les Misérables (UK & International Tour) and recently co-starred in The Rise and Fall of Vinnie and Paul: A Rock Musical, playing the part of Paul Gauguin (The Glitch, VAULTS). Professional workshops include After Elijah (The Other Palace), winner of the Stiles & Drewe/MTI award and Longitude (Arcola Theatre).

Cecily Hadwin

Humans in the Loop is Cecily’s first professional production with an all-age cast. She recently played Feuilly in her school production of Les Miserables and Sergei/ensemble roles in Light Up!’s Matilda summer youth project. She studies drama and musical theatre and won the 2025 Most Promising Junior Vocal at the Fareham Music Festival.

Julie Teal

Julie has been an actor for 35 years in theatre, TV and radio. Most recently she was in Some Mother’s Do ‘Ave ‘Em at the Barn Theatre Cirencester, the new musical The Land Of Might Have Been at Buxton International Opera Festival and on tour, and Lady Featherington in Bridgerton for Secret Cinema. Julie’s early career was spent in rep and also touring extensively in the UK. She also toured to Singapore with The Vortex for The British Playhouse Theatre. TV shows include Call The Midwife, Luther, Emmerdale, Midsomers Murder, Doctors, Casualty, Eastenders. As a member of the Radio Rep Company, she has recorded hundreds of audio books.

Speakers

Dr Johanna Walker is a Post Doctoral Research Associate in the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, King’s College London. She specialises in data-driven innovation, public and private sector co-creation, data ecosystems, data governance and ethics, generative AI and data, and data literacy.

Johanna is joined by playwright Lucy Bell and composer James Joshua Otto.

Johanna, Lucy and James previously worked together on Destination Hallucination - a mini-musical about Generative AI. You can listen to the musical here and listen to an interview about the making of the musical here. 

Dr Mike Cook is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at King’s College London. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, creativity and applications of AI to game design and development. He is the designer of several game-designing AI systems including ANGELINA, Puck, Bluecap and Pixie, and is the author of Next Level, an upcoming book about creative technology and games.

Jennifer Ding is on the ML Solutions team at Encord, an AI Data Infrastructure company building human in the loop tools for data curation and annotation. She is also a director of Boundary Object Studio, a research studio incubating initiatives for public interest AI such as London Data Week, a citywide festival of data which runs from 7-13 July 2025. Her work focuses on expanding practices for open & participatory AI.

Dr Eva Nieto McAvoy is a Lecturer in Digital Media at King's College London. Her research of digital media and culture focuses on the theories and practices of new and interactive media in cultural and memory work at the intersection of knowledge, power, and technology. She studies digital transformations in media and cultural ecosystems, with a focus on the entanglements of creative work with technologies as situated, everyday practices across borders, particularly within contexts of unequal power relations.

King's Festival of Artificial Intelligence

This event is part of the King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence. Running from Tuesday 20 May to Saturday 24 May, the free, five-day festival brings together a diverse line-up of experts to consider critical questions about artificial intelligence in the context of healthcare, education, sustainability, policy, and creativity.

If you are interested in this event, you may also want to join us for:

• The Digital Futures of Literature
• Magic, Minds, and the Mysteries of AI
• AI Dreams and Sci-Fi Nightmares (online)

Festival events will take place across several King’s venues, so please check carefully where the event is taking place. Festival event times may be subject to change. Any changes will be communicated to attendees via Eventbrite emails.

Please note, King's events are free, which means we routinely overbook to allow for no-shows and avoid empty seats. Admission is on a first come, first served basis, so please arrive in good time to avoid disappointment. We will not be able to admit those without tickets or latecomers.