In โHotel Reverieโ, an episode from the recent, seventh season of Netflix series Black Mirror, filmmaker Haolu Wang focuses on the hot topic of artificial intelligence (AI).
The episode sees AI technology being used to speed up, simplify and, most importantly, reduce the costs of remaking a classic film as something of a money grab.
This 78-minute instalment of the science-fiction anthology series dropped just months after Hollywood writers, directors and actors went on strike to protest at the expansion in the use of AI โ and the lack of agreements on it โ in the entertainment industry.
The irony of the timing is not lost on the Chinese-born director, who hopes that โpeople will realise AI is terrible for creativityโ.
In a video call from her London home, Wang tells the Post: โAlthough โHotel Reverieโ seems to present a way that AI can be used more positively โฆ humanity, creativity and love are ultimately what matter. AI cannot create love.โ
In the episode, Issa Rae plays Brandy Friday, a modern-day actress invited by director Kimmy (Awkwafina) and cash-strapped studio head Judith Keyworth (Harriet Walter) to appear in a remake of Hotel Reverie, a black-and-white movie from the 1940s, opposite Dorothy Chambers (Emma Corrin).