\nLet\u2019s talk about \u2018Mrs. Davis\u2019 and the show\u2019s wild approach to AI<\/br>
\n2023-04-18 21:57:53<\/br><\/p>\n
Set in an alt-near future reality, Peacock\u2019s newest original series, \u201cMrs. Davis<\/a>,\u201d releasing on April 20, is edging toward being a little too believable \u2014 minus the kidnapping Germans, an elusive Holy Grail and a life-threatening venture inside a gargantuan whale.<\/p>\n The show centers around an all-knowing AI that\u2019s designed to satisfy its users, sending them on quests that give them a sense of purpose and making them feel like all their problems are finally solved.<\/p>\n We spoke with \u201cMrs. Davis\u201d co-creators, Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez, to find out more about why they were inspired to film a show where AI wants to control our lives.<\/p>\n Lindelof, the co-creator of \u201cLost,\u201d and Hernandez, mainly known for her work on \u201cThe Big Bang Theory,\u201d were introduced to each other during the peak of COVID and brainstormed ideas that would eventually become \u201cMrs. Davis.\u201d<\/p>\n The showrunners\u00a0pointed out that the show was dreamed up three years before ChatGPT<\/a> launched to the public.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really interesting. Not that we were ahead of the curve, but it\u2019s sort of\u2026taking it to the next level. As you\u2019re well aware, [AI] is moving at a pretty quantum rate right now,\u201d Lindelof told us.<\/p>\n Initially, the co-creators had thought about centering the show\u2019s conflict around an app that could help determine which COVID activities were safe and those that were not, according to the latest COVID rules.<\/p>\n They then spiraled further and thought up an app that could provide relationship advice, professional guidance and \u2014 as crazy as it sounds \u2014 replaces religion altogether. This then evolved into the \u201cMrs. Davis\u201d AI.<\/p>\n Lindelof mentioned to us that he consumed a lot of news related to AI and listened to podcasts like \u201cRabbit Hole,\u201d which talks about how the internet impacts our lives.<\/p>\n The book, \u201cYou Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How AI Works and Why It\u2019s Making the World a Weirder Place\u201d<\/a> by Janelle Shane also came out around the same time they were writing the show, which both Lindelof and Hernandez enjoyed reading. (Shane is an optics research scientist and AI researcher who runs a humor blog called AI Weirdness<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like the writer sort of had this relationship with her algorithm and would teach it things and it felt not unlike raising a pet, you know, and a really funny one at that,\u201d said Hernandez. \u201cSo, I think that really informed us that algorithms could be super dumb and silly and that we found delight in the fact when they are because it makes us feel a little better about our position in society.\u201d<\/p>\n Hernandez and Lindelof also selected people with diverse backgrounds to help write the show, including those with experience in tech.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we got the green light to continue with our initial pitch, we put together a writer\u2019s room, and we made sure that the backgrounds and the experiences of our writers were unlike our own,\u201d Hernandez added. \u201cWe had Jonny Sun, a writer who goes to MIT, and Nadra Widatalla comes from a gaming background\u2026they really became our guides in these worlds that we, ourselves were maybe unfamiliar with.\u201d<\/p>\n Sun is a Ph.D. candidate at MIT with a background in machine learning and evolutionary robotics.<\/p>\n Not only did Sun help expand plot points and write a few episodes for the show, but he also developed an algorithm that generated episode titles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would feed [the algorithm] an episode synopsis in the prompt box, like here\u2019s three or four sentences about what happens in episode three of \u2018Mrs. Davis.\u2019 And then the script for that episode. So this algorithm can actually read and understand what a story was and then give us a title,\u201d Lindelof explained to TechCrunch.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then we realized it didn\u2019t know what a title was\u2026 there were titles that were 35 words or 100 words.\u201d<\/p>\n It ultimately took months to program, and Sun trained several models before the team landed on a favorite algorithm.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made up its own language\u2026 episode two features these Germans, so there\u2019s [a title] that sounds like it could be German,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cWe are big fans of the strange, weird and just almost-right-but-indecipherably-wrong \u2018unhuman\u2019 quality of algorithmically generated language, and wanted our episode titles to feel that way, reflecting the weirdness of \u2018Mrs. Davis\u2019 and the uncanny, surreal, but also poignant, tone of our series.\u201d<\/p>\n Some examples of AI-generated episode titles include:<\/p>\n (The following part of this TechCrunch story may contain spoilers.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Artificial intelligence has come a long way since machine learning<\/a> and is becoming increasingly embedded in our daily lives. With the snowballing ubiquity of algorithms and the current rise of generative AI tools<\/a>, the show certainly addresses a timely topic.<\/p>\n After watching all eight episodes of Mrs. Davis, we have to say it\u2019s one of the wackier shows that we\u2019ve seen in a long time. We won\u2019t reveal too much, but let\u2019s just say it made our brains hurt a little. (But in a good way, we suppose?)<\/p>\n In this \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d-esque show, Mrs. Davis has seemingly eliminated the need for social media apps, distracting its four billion users from the world\u2019s issues with a gamified reward system. It sends its users out on quests until they eventually earn their \u201cwings,\u201d which provide a sense of status (much like a verification mark<\/a>).<\/p>\n These wings are almost impossible to get, which is why Mrs. Davis offers a shortcut. If a user wants instant wings, they must give it their life.<\/p>\n Cue dramatic, dystopian music.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Peacock<\/p>\n<\/div>\n TechCrunch spoke with the main cast, which includes Betty Gilpin (Sister Simon), Jake McDorman (Wiley), and Chris Diamantopoulos (JQ).<\/p>\n All three characters have personal vendettas against Mrs. D.<\/p>\n Sister Simone, the protagonist, is a nun that hates the algorithm because it took away her parents\u2019 livelihood and \u2014 in her eyes \u2014 is responsible for her father\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Before the algorithm was created, Simone\u2019s parents were magicians. However, Mrs. Davis took away the curiosity behind magic since it gave users all the answers. Consumed with vengeance, Simone teams up with a resistance group to try and destroy it.<\/p>\n Throughout the show, we see Mrs. D speaking to Simone through its cult-like followers (a.k.a. users). Every time Mrs. D wants to tell her something, the user asks Simone if they can \u201cproxy\u201d or repeat what the algorithm is saying through their earphones.<\/p>\n We asked Gilpin what she thought about algorithms and AI before the show and what she thinks of them now.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore we were filming and even when we were filming, ChatGPT wasn\u2019t really a thing\u2026 It wasn\u2019t in the headlines like it is now,\u201d Gilpin told us. \u201cNow I have a pretty healthy fear of it, where I used to think it was sort of this niche thing that smarter people than I am were interested in. I think now I\u2019m sort of asking the same question that Simone asks in the series, which is, \u2018Is this an incredible thing for society or is this poison?\u2019 I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI understand the impulse in a world where, particularly in the pandemic when we had so many questions and no answers\u2026to follow something that purports to have all the answers. But that\u2019s against the purpose of being alive\u2026having a robot try to sidestep those moments in life for us\u2026 It may be helpful in curing disease, but in terms of interfering with human interaction and being existential, being a person of faith or the intangible, I don\u2019t think those are things that I\u2019m willing to give up,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Betty Gilpin as Simone. Image Credits:<\/strong> Sophie Kohler\/Peacock<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Like Simone, Wiley and JQ are also personally affected by Mrs. D and dedicate their lives to ending the algorithm once and for all.<\/p>\n Wiley, who is Simone\u2019s ex-boyfriend, leads this resistance group, alongside his friend and confidant, JQ. They enlist a team of tech nerds to build an off-grid, \u201ctop-secret\u201d hideout equipped with an advanced server that \u2014 to their knowledge \u2014 Mrs. Davis can\u2019t access.<\/p>\n There\u2019s even a bit throughout the series where Wiley and JQ have an endless supply of burner flip phones, breaking them after every single call to avoid suspicion. (Albeit wasteful, it\u2019s also hilarious.)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a physical manifestation of the paranoia that \u2018The Big D\u2019 is everywhere, and in order to avoid and to continually scramble and make sure that [Mrs. Davis] is not anywhere intercepting any of these calls or ahead of us, we break the phone to break a signal after the call is done,\u201d Diamantopoulos told us.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like in those old World War II movies when the French Resistance would meet under candlelight in a small bar somewhere in like north of Berlin, and they\u2019d have the names of these German generals written on a piece of paper, and then they\u2019d light a cigarette and light it on fire,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n What\u2019s so great about this show is that it never takes itself too seriously, whether that\u2019s how it portrays Mrs. D or all the outrageous tasks the AI assigns to Simone and Wiley.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got the script, it was clear that this was like five different genres in one,\u201d McDorman said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were elements of an adventure story, science fiction, obviously with an algorithm, a little bit of a rom-com, definitely comedy and also drama. I think I said this to Damon [Lindelof] \u2014 and I mean this in the best way \u2014 it\u2019s like a game of Mad Libs that just got out of control. So yeah, something that\u2019s that unique and that original and not afraid to take big swings like that is obviously exciting and rare to come across.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cMrs. Davis\u201d is a wacky vision of an AI future<\/h2>\n
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