According to the creator of “Black Mirror”, AI technology is not the problem: “It depends on how you use it”
When it comes to artificial intelligence, the hit series “Black Mirror” is often mentioned. Its stories are about how technology influences people’s lives – usually for the worse.
“The fortune-telling aspect comes up quite a lot. Unfortunately, I seem to have an early warning system for people sending me things like, ‘Have you seen that news segment? That’s quite Black Mirror.’ And all I can say is, ‘Well, I’m just exaggerating something I saw,'” series creator Charlie Brooker told Deadline.
He continued: “And unfortunately, that’s just how the world works. It seems like things are getting worse, so reality has caught up with us.”
The latest season, streaming on Netflix, included an episode titled “Joan is Awful,” starring Salma Hayek and “Schitt’s Creek” star Annie Murphy. It’s about a woman named Joan whose life is ruined when her every move is turned into a television show thanks to AI-generated content.
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker told Deadline: “Unfortunately, I seem to have an early warning system for people sending me things like, ‘Have you seen this news story? That’s pretty Black Mirror.’ And all I can say is, ‘Well, I’m just exaggerating something I saw.'” (River Callaway/Variety via Getty Images)
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
The episode first aired in June 2023, in the middle of the writers’ strike and just before the actors’ strike. In both cases, the focus was heavily on the impact of AI on the entertainment industry.
Brooker said the timing of the episode was “crazy.”
“The timing of this, however, massively increased public interest in AI as a threat to the creative industries and the creative arts,” he said. “So it was crazy because we were in post-production on the episode at the time and I couldn’t have foreseen the episode coming out in time for the strike, but it was gratifying to have done something about it.”
“If the episode, in its own comically grotesque way, helped to articulate some of the dangers and some of the problems and fears, then that is particularly satisfying,” he added.
Brooker said the premiere of a “Black Mirror” episode about generative AI during last year’s writers’ strike was a coincidence, but hoped it helped “articulate some of the dangers and some of the issues and fears.” (Getty Images)
SAG President Fran Drescher criticizes ‘AI fraudsters’ as Congressional bill on deepfakes receives massive support
He also noted that Hayek and Murphy are already “troubled” by the idea of deepfakes, “and they are already thinking about what control they have over their actual image.”
Hayek told The Radio Times last year that the incident had left her feeling terrified.
“Like any powerful tool, it depends on what you do with it.”
“There are so many moments in the script that shocked me. There’s one big moment that I had to deal with that made me wonder, ‘Do I really want to do this? Am I going to get in trouble?'” Hayek told the outlet.
She played a version of herself in the episode, playing the fake Joan in the AI-generated show within the show.
Salma Hayek said the “Black Mirror” episode in which she starred contained “so many moments in the script that shocked me.” (Jo Hale/FilmMagic)
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
“It’s like I’ve created an alter ego that allows me to do the most disgusting, grotesque things that you would never do in real life… and I have permission to do it.”
She added: “It was absurd and a lot of fun. It’s a unique opportunity to play an interpretation of myself. I was able to explore the concepts and stereotypes people have about me and be self-deprecating.”
WATCH: SAG-AFTRA REPRESENTATIVE EXPLAINS WHY LAST YEAR’S ‘DEVASTATING’ HOLLYWOOD STRIKES WERE ‘NECESSARY’
Despite the series’ often prescient nature, Brooker never intended for Black Mirror to be an “Oh, the phones are evil and the technology is bad” series.
“That’s because I’m impressed with the technological tools we’re developing because they’re just incredible, and phones are incredible. Like any powerful tool, it’s what you do with it that counts,” he explained.
Brooker said it was never his intention to make Black Mirror a show “where it says, ‘Oh, the phones are evil and the technology is bad.'” (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney)
LIKE WHAT YOU READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
“AI-generated images, for example, are impressive and incredible. You could use them to completely destabilize our society by spreading terrifying misinformation, or just use them as a tool in Photoshop to fill things in, or use them to throw ideas back and forth, or for something innocuous like a list of names of coal miners in the 1930s that I can choose from.”
However, Brooker doesn’t believe AI-generated creativity is the way forward for Hollywood. He says, “If you use it to create a pitch and then try to make a show out of it, I don’t think that’s good. And you’re going to end up with dogshit and put people out of work.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“So with all these things, it’s how you use them. So it’s not a show that says ‘the technology is bad’. It’s a show that says ‘the technology is impressive but it’s neutral and people aren’t failures because we invented this stuff, we’re great’.”
