A BBC studio is using artificial intelligence to recreate the voice and appearance of the late mystery author Agatha Christie to be used in digital classes that teach future writers “how to create the perfect crime novel.” Instead of Christie, the real-life actress Vivienne Keane takes the place of Christie, whose appearance has been augmented by artificial intelligence to resemble the author.
The new course, titled “The Writing Craft of Agatha Christie,” is available today on BBC Maestro, the company’s $10-a-month online course service that typically provides access to content from live professionals teaching things like graphic design, bread baking, time management, and more.
According to James Prichard, Agatha Christie’s great-grandson, in a press release, “Agatha Christie’s teachings are written in her own words. It uses the ideas of the real Christie, and the script is written by scientists – so the actual content seems to be humanly created, not generated by the model that fed her entire work. The BBC collaborated with the Agatha Christie Estate and used restored audio recordings, licensed images, interviews, and her own writings to bring it all to life.
The course currently consists of 11 video lessons with 12 exercises for future writing students, including how to “structure an airtight plot” and “create tension.”
