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The hit series “Black Mirror” inevitably comes up in any conversation about artificial intelligence because of its stories of how technology is affecting human lives, often for the worse.
“The prophetic aspect comes up a lot. Unfortunately, I seem to have an early warning system and people let me know, like, 'Did you see this on the news? This is so Black Mirror,' and I can only say, 'Well, I'm just exaggerating what I saw,'” series creator Charlie Brooker told Deadline.
He continued, “And unfortunately, that's the way the world works. Things seem to be getting worse, and reality has caught up with me.”
The latest season, available on Netflix, includes an episode called “Joan is Awful,” starring Salma Hayek and Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy, in which AI-generated content ruins a woman named Joan's life when everything she does is made into a TV show.
“Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker told Deadline: “Unfortunately, it seems like I have an early warning system for people who get messages along the lines of, 'Did you see this on the news? This is so Black Mirror,' and all I can say is, 'Well, I'm just exaggerating what I saw.'” (River Callaway/Variety via Getty Images)
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
The episode premiered in June 2023, in the midst of the writers' strike and just before the actors' strike, both of which focused on the impact of AI on entertainment.
Brooker said the timing of the episode was “crazy.”
“But the timing really brought AI to the forefront of public attention as a threat to the creative industries and the creative arts,” he said. “We were in post-production on the episode at the time and we couldn't have predicted it coming out at the time of the strike, so it was weird, but we were happy to do something about it.”
“If this episode helps to articulate, in a comical or grotesque way, some danger or problem or fear, then that's particularly satisfying,” he added.
Brooker said it was coincidental that Black Mirror's AI-generated episode premiered during last year's writers strike, but he hoped it would help “articulate some of the dangers and issues and fears.” (Getty Images)
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He added that Hayek and Murphy are already “unsettled” by the idea of deepfakes, and “they're already considering how much control they might have over their literal images.”
Hayek told the Radio Times last year that she was genuinely scared by what had happened.
“Like any powerful tool, it only depends on how you use it.”
Charlie Brooker
“There are a lot of shocking scenes in the script, and one big one in particular, where I had to ask myself, 'Do I really want to do this? Is this going to get me in trouble?'” Hayek told the outlet.
She played a version of herself in the episode, starring as a fake Joan in the show's AI-generated show.
Salma Hayek said of the Black Mirror episode she starred in, “There were a lot of scenes in the script that just blew my mind.” (Joe Hale/FilmMagic)
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“It's as if I've created an alter-ego that allows me to do the most repulsive and grotesque things that I would never do in real life, and yet I have permission to do them.”
She added: “It was silly but a lot of fun. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to act out my own interpretation. I got to explore the notions and clichés people have about me and make fun of myself.”
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Despite the show's often prescient nature, Brooker didn't intend for Black Mirror to be “a show that says, 'Oh, mobiles are evil and technology is bad.'”
“I'm impressed with the technological tools we create. They're really great, and mobile phones are great. But with any powerful tool, it's how you use it that matters,” he explained.
Brooker said he didn't intend for “Black Mirror” to be “a show that says, 'Mobile phones are evil, technology is bad.'” (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images at SXSW Sydney)
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“For example, the AI-generated images are striking and amazing. You can use them to spread horrible misinformation and completely destabilize a society, or you can use them as a paint-over tool in Photoshop, to exchange ideas, or even for something as harmless as the list of names of coal miners from the 1930s that I chose.”
But Brooker doesn't believe AI-driven creativity is the future of Hollywood: “Using an AI to write a proposal and then trying to turn it into a show is a bad idea. It's going to end up being awful and people will lose their jobs,” Brooker says.
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“So with all of this, it's how you use it that matters. So, if anything, this isn't a show that says, 'technology is bad.' This is a show that says, 'technology is great but neutral, and humans are great because they invented this stuff, not because we're no good.'”
