Charlie Brooker says he tried using ChatGPT to write a new Black Mirror episode

By Mike Bedigan, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Charlie Brooker says he tried using AI tool ChatGPT to generate a new episode of Black Mirror, but that the result was “shit”.

The British writer and creator of the dystopian anthology programme said using the tool had produced something that read plausibly “at first glance” but did not contain “any real original thought”.

It comes ahead of the release of series six of the hit Netflix show on June 15.

New episodes will feature actors including Aaron Paul, Michael Cera and Salma Hayek Pinault, as well as Himesh Patel and Rob Delaney.

Speaking ahead of the new series, Brooker told Empire Magazine: “I’ve toyed around with ChatGPT a bit.

“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.

“Because 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’.”

Brooker is executive producer of Black Mirror alongside Jessica Rhoades, Annabel Jones and Bisha K Ali.

In a previous interview with Netflix’s Tudum platform, he said: “I’ve always felt that Black Mirror should feature stories that are entirely distinct from one another, and keep surprising people — and myself — or else what’s the point?

“It should be a series that can’t be easily defined, and can keep reinventing itself.”

The dystopian yet often darkly comic series, which takes a scathing look at modern society and alternative realities often relating to the overuse of technology, debuted in 2011 on Channel 4.

The programme moved to streaming giant Netflix in 2016.

The full Empire interview with Charlie Brooker can be read in the upcoming July 2023 issue, which goes on sale on June 8.