“Joan is Awful,” an episode in the popular anthology TV series Black Mirror which explores dark and dystopian impacts of technology on society, delves into AI’s ability to distort reality.
The episode focuses on an ordinary woman named Joan who discovers that her life is being made into a hit streaming show on the platform “Streamberry,” a jab at Netflix. The show is generated in real-time by an AI, with Salma Hayek portraying the AI version of Joan. The AI has access to all aspects of Joan’s life, and uses this information to create a dramatized version for millions of viewers, devastating Joan’s life.
In this episode, AI is portrayed as a tool for creating content and mixes reality and fiction. By selecting and interpreting events from Joan’s life in order to maximize engagement with viewers, the AI in this episode raises questions about privacy, consent, and the potential for AI to manipulate our perception of reality. “Joan is Awful,” portrays a future where fears surrounding the increasing influence of AI in media and entertainment are true. As AI technologies become more sophisticated, they hold the power to create hyper-realistic content which could potentially erase the distinction between real and artificial. With such negative ethical implications, it’s clear AI is bad, right?
However, the creator of Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker believes AI technology isn’t inherently the problem. In an interview with Fox News, Brooker explained that it’s how we choose to use it that poses potential risks. In “Joan is Awful,” AI isn’t necessarily malicious by design, but it becomes a vehicle for exploitation due to the intentions of the company controlling it. It is the responsibility of humans to determine the ethical boundaries and applications of AI, and channel this innovative technology in a pragmatic routine.
In “Joan is Awful,” the AI’s capacity to shape and distort Joan’s reality serves as a cautionary tale for society of what can happen when powerful technology is recklessly used without regard for the impact of individual lives, but also a call to action. It urges us to think critically about how AI is integrated into the media we use, and to advocate for ourselves to protect our privacy.