Charlie Brooker has built a TV writing career imagining ways in which technology will disrupt human life, and now the Black Mirror creator has voiced anxiety about how AI will change writing processes.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the British writer said he was not worried about being replaced by artificial intelligence, but that notes will start being generated from “AI animatics” of scripts.
Brooker said the notion was suggested to him by another writer, who said scripts would be fed into a machine, which would produce a rough animated cut of the drama, from which changes could be suggested.
“That felt plausible to me, because basically the script becomes a prompt,” he told a packed audience of British television executives. “That worries me.”
Brooker stressed, however, that he felt there would always be a demand from audiences to watch stories born out of human experience. “I hope there’s still a job for keeping keyboards warm with flesh,” the writer said.
One of his AI riffs, which sounded like the beginnings of a Black Mirror episode, was that cinemagoers could have their faces scanned as they enter a theater — and then see themselves as characters on the screen.
Brooker — who teased an upcoming announcement about a new and “very different” creation — also spoke about how understanding Netflix had been about satirizing subscription models in Black Mirror episode Common People, starring Rashida Jones.
“I would love to say that I stormed into a boardroom and went: ‘This must happen.’ No, they’ve been very up for that sort of thing,” he laughed.
Brooker said he was fortunate in being able to cast actors, including Paul Giamatti, in the anthology drama, but said he still has to write “begging letters” to some. He added that most consider Black Mirror a fun gig. “It’s exciting because you’re not bored, and you don’t have familiarity breeding contempt,” he added.
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