Black Mirror Creator Uses AI To Write Episode And The Results Are A Trip
Since its first season, Black Mirror has been delivering fresh and inventive sci-fi stories wrapped up neatly into episodic packages (even if some may last 90 minutes). With the boom of artificial intelligence and the worry from writers and other creatives that their jobs may be lost to technology, series creator Charlie Brooker put AI to the test. According to The Guardian, Brooker revealed at an SXSW panel back in June that he allowed ChatGPT to take a stab at penning its own episode – saying that the product was “sh**.”
Black Mirror Creator Was Nervous AI Would Write Better Episodes
Before the story took a turn for the worse, Brooker admits that he was rather nervous with how the chatbot was handling the script. As the AI began writing its Black Mirror episode, Brooker describes his feelings of “animal terror,” adding that it was during these initial moments that he thought he and other writers would be “replaced.” But, things soon turned around in Brooker’s battle with technology as he said the bot was “just emulating something.”
The End Result Was Not Good
In Brooker’s words, he believes that the AI “Hoovered up every description of every Black Mirror episode” from all corners of the internet, smashing them together in a mishmash of reused material. When ChatGPT was finally done with its task, Brooker took a deep sigh of relief and realized that this type of tech couldn’t hope to be on the same level as a human screenwriter. What started out as a plot of horror and intrigue, became something that Brooker quickly became bored with as the AI trudged along with recycled material.
Brooker’s Experiment Mirrors The Season 6 Premiere Episode
It’s interesting that the Black Mirror creator ran this test with ChatGPT as the latest season of the anthology series opened with an episode about the dangers of artificial intelligence. In “Joan is Awful,” Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) stars as the titular woman whose world is turned upside down when she becomes the leading character on a TV show. Her on-screen counterpart is played by Salma Hayek and, in hopes of the studio pulling the plug on the series, Joan goes to embarrassingly great lengths to get a cancellation.
Black Mirror Shines Lights On Issues From The SAG-AFTRA Strike
The Black Mirror episode aired at an opportune time as it was the early days of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in which both unions were fighting for better protection against artificial intelligence. Both writers and actors have been concerned with the ongoing use of the ever-growing technology and how it may affect their jobs negatively in the future. The episode also shined a light on the legalities of using people’s likenesses for characters, another concern plaguing the still-striking actors union.
Will There Be More Seasons Of Black Mirror?
As for the future of Black Mirror, following a successful sixth season that featured performances from familiar names including Josh Hartnett (Penny Dreadful), Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Kate Mara (American Horror Story), and Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), Season 7 is up in the air.
At this point, neither Netflix nor anyone involved in the production, including Brooker, have made comments about if and when another installment is on the way. Luckily for fans, if there is another batch of episodes, Brooker will ensure that they’re top quality and penned by human screenwriters.
