About
The Trials of Atlas

It is 2031. In Singapore, an elevator plunges twelve storeys, killing the three engineers who created Atlas, one of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems. The safety system built to prevent the crash never intervened. Atlas now stands trial before the World Court, accused of murder.

But can an artificial intelligence have motive, intent, or a guilty mind? Can it be held responsible for its actions, and if not, who should be? And who gets to decide?

The Trials of Atlas is an interactive courtroom drama by Alan Stoga, Chairman of the Tällberg Foundation, made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). The actors present the case. The audience decides how it ends.

The trial

There is no law yet written for a case like this, and the court makes no assumption that Atlas is a legal person. Instead, three judges from the supreme courts of Singapore, Italy and the United States put the question where it belongs in a democracy: before a jury of citizens.

Over the course of the trial, the judges question Atlas itself, two AI witnesses and two human experts, in a courtroom of the near future where interrogating a machine seems almost routine. The prosecution argues that Atlas acted deliberately and must be held accountable. The defense asks whether a machine can be guilty of a crime that requires a guilty mind.

Then the audience, divided into juries, deliberates and votes: guilty or not guilty. With no law to guide them, jurors must rely on their own sense of what is right and just.

Meet the characters

Why we created the play

Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than society’s ability to debate its consequences, and the conversation about its future too often stays within a closed loop of researchers, technology companies and policymakers.

The Tällberg Foundation believes citizens deserve a voice in the questions that will define this century. The Trials of Atlas draws on two of the most familiar institutions we have, the stage and the courtroom, to make complex questions about technology, accountability and governance tangible, and to give audiences a real role in judging them.

The play was originally commissioned for SNF Nostos 2026, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s celebration of 30 years of grantmaking, at the invitation of SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos.

“My ultimate goal is to push people to think seriously about the challenges AI poses to human society. To achieve that, they need to form an opinion, express it, and see that it carries weight.”
— Alan Stoga, playwright

How it works

The performance runs for about 90 minutes without an interval, including the jury deliberation and vote. No technical or legal expertise is needed. All that matters is a willingness to listen, weigh the arguments and decide.

Each staging uses a local cast, and each audience reaches its own verdict. The same evidence, weighed by different publics, has produced different judgments about whether a machine can be guilty of murder.

The Atlas Project

The play is the starting point for the Atlas Project, the Tällberg Foundation’s effort to develop new ways for citizens to reason together about advanced AI and other transformative technologies. Working with academic, civic, and cultural partners, the project invites students, educators, and members of the public to exercise judgment about the technology that is reshaping their lives. They listen, debate and decide.

Isn’t that what democracy is supposed to be?

Performances

Upcoming

• 9 November 2026 · Baltimore. SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University, 6:00–8:00 p.m., followed by a reception.
• 11 November 2026 · Washington, DC. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center, 6:00 p.m.
• 12 December 2026 · MIT. CSAIL Auditorium, staged reading. [Details to come]

The Johns Hopkins performances are presented by the SNF Agora Institute, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Sesquicentennial Office at Johns Hopkins University, as part of the university’s 150th anniversary year.

Past stagings

• 28 January 2026 · Tirana. Pyramid Conference Center, the first-ever preview staged reading.
• 2 February 2026 · Athens. Book Castle, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, preview staged reading.
• 5 May 2026 · New York. Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, preview staged reading.
• 25 June 2026 · Athens. SNF Nostos 2026, full production premiere.

In the press – selected coverage

Inclusive AI Lab	The Oldest Way to See Our Newest Problem	March 2026
To Vima	Crime and Artificial Intelligence: Alan Stoga Puts AI On Trial In Athens	June 2026
Forbes	The Trials Of Atlas: A Play For Our Times	October 2026

Credits

Written by Alan Stoga · Produced by Alan Stoga, Mark Mitton and Susanna Mitton · Made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

The Trials of Atlas © 2025 Alan Stoga. All rights reserved.