In 2025, artificial intelligence looks set to appear on television almost as often as it does in real life. In the hospital mockumentary sitcom Saint Denis Medical, a curmudgeonly doctor resents his patient's unerring faith in his artificial intelligence diagnostic tool. In the high school comedy The English Teacher, an idealistic educator advocates for smart trash cans, only to discover that the new camera-equipped trash cans are part of an elaborate data collection scheme. And in the Hollywood satire The Studio, a production company's announcement that one of its projects will rely on artificial intelligence animation is causing major backlash.
Some shows take a more sympathetic approach. Apple TV drama “Killer Robot” based on Martha WellsThe book series tries to see things from the main character's point of view. The story takes place on a distant planet, where the eponymous killer robot (Alexander Skarsgård) is tasked with ensuring the safety of a group of scientists studying the unpredictable local fauna. While researchers argue with each other about what dignity should be given to the android – is it a machine or a slave? — The killer robot obeys their instructions with the sullenness of a resentful teenager and quips to himself about their tiresome “exchange of words and vibes.” (He's not wrong about their tediousness, but he's just as boring as the targets of his ridicule.) The point is, Killer Robot doesn't really care about helping. or destroying the people around him; he'd just rather waste his free time from work watching cheesy space operas. In fact, it is his Bartleby-esque defiance that makes him feel most human.
Suddenly, the 2025 series that most effectively conveys the anxieties of modern AI is a sci-fi drama set in the twenty-second century, in a universe where artificially intelligent lackeys have become obsolete. The Alien film franchise has long been known for its populist cyberpunk perspective; In the original film, the main characters are interstellar merchant mariners who are considered expendable by their employer. FX's new prequel series Alien: Earth makes the evils of corporate exploitation even more explicit: Its main antagonist, an arrogant man-child calling himself Cavalier Boy (Samuel Blenkin), is a trillionaire who has no qualms about defrauding vulnerable people or endangering the planet to further his own ends.
There is no practical government in the world of Alien: Earth; After the collapse of democracy, five megacorporations came to power. Technological marvels do little to improve the miserable existence of most workers; Sixty-five-year labor contracts are the norm. Aliens aside, the show's depiction of internecine battles between heartless, selfish plutocrats at the expense of almost everyone else doesn't seem too far removed from our own situation. In May, the CEO of a prominent artificial intelligence company predicted the elimination of half of all entry-level white-collar jobs by 2030, even as wars for talent in the field have allowed top researchers to earn nine-figure salaries. The contrast prompted humorous jokes about the impending “permanent underclass” Meanwhile, various large language models have gobbled up huge amounts of data, sometimes in illicit ways, and AI-generated images and videos have ushered in a terrifying new era in which people have less control than ever over their appearance and the appearance of their loved ones. This month, the release of the text-to-video app Sora 2 left the daughters of Robin Williams and Martin Luther King Jr. begging the public to stop sending them videos. deepfakes of their fathers.
The way AI is disrupting relationships, institutions, and truth itself has given our current moment a science-fiction feel, with new reports of chatbots being targeted every day. romantic obsessionpushing users towards psychotic breaks or encouraging teenagers to commit suicide. As commentators on both sides of the AI divide often point out, either as a promise or a threat, it is the worst the technology will ever be. Hollywood will have to face and compete with this reality to understand what lies ahead. ♦
