The Black Mirror Creator Asked ChatGPT to Write an Episode. The Result Was Soulless 'Sh*t'

In a very Black Mirror-esque turn of events, the creator of Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker, asked ChatGPT to create an episode of Black Mirror. If this actually was Black Mirror, the result would be a super-meta work genius that would have us questioning our reality. But alas, this is the real world, and the result was, quite frankly, “shit.”

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In an interview with Empire magazine, Charlie Brooker revealed that he’d dabbled with the generative AI of ChatGPT—and was left “deeply unimpressed.”

“I’ve toyed around with ChatGPT a bit," Brooker revealed to Empire. "The first thing I did was type 'generate Black Mirror episode,' and it comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is shit.”

In case you haven’t experimented with generative AI yet, here’s a summary: AI doesn’t pull content out of its ass—it reworks content that’s already on the Internet. It might word things eloquently, but it’s debatable whether true originality even exists on ChatGPT.

“All it’s done is look up all the synopses of Black Mirror episodes, and sort of mush them together. Then if you dig a bit more deeply you go, 'Oh, there’s not actually any real original thought here.' It’s [1970s impressionist] Mike Yarwood — there’s a topical reference,” explained Brooker.

There’s a Black Mirror episode in there somewhere. Brooker’s experience with ChatGPT pretty much summarizes ChatGPT’s place in the creative industry: While AI might be able to churn out content quickly, it still lacks the very thing that defines creativity—originality. Tech is a tool. It doesn’t have the beating hearts and lived experiences of human beings to inspire their stories. It only has formulas, but formulas don’t win Emmys and Oscars. That’s what creatives like Charlie Brooker are for.

So, it looks like our jobs are safe. For now.

If you still have a macabre interest in terrifying, catch the sixth season of Black Mirror on June 15, 2023, exclusively on Netflix.