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Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker isn't a terrible person to listen to when it comes to AI. He is, after all, the mind behind plenty of episodes abut machines taking over some vital aspect of humanity. However, Brooker sees one of the most talked-about threats in the entertainment world - that is, that AI will replace human writers - a little bit differently than most.

It was a subject of conversation that came up during Brooker's panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival in 2025. The discussion naturally turned toward AI discourse at one point, and when it came to what it meant for the writers' rooms of the TV landscape, Brooker recalled a recent conversation he had with another, unnamed creator.

"A much cleverer writer than me," began the Black Mirror creator, "Said to me a few weeks ago, 'I think in the future is, as script writers, not that we'll all be replaced, but we'll be getting notes based on AI-generated animatics of our scripts.' That execs will take our scripts feed them into [programs] and sit there and watch a rough, video preview of it and go, 'Got bit boring in the third act. Don't know about that. Maybe lose the bit with the pig. Why does everyone have eight fingers?' I don't know."

"I could sort of see that," he continued, "It felt plausible to me partly because, basically, the script becomes a prompt and then you get notes on that before you go and film it. That worries me."

While Brooker also admitted to optimistically wondering whether "the execs aren't going to want to do that because they love their jobs as well," it was still an idea that scared him.

"I don't know," he concluded, "I hope that there's still a job for keeping keyboards warm with flesh."

We hope so too, Charlie.

Black Mirror is streaming now on Netflix.  

Ey up, it's British Week here at Popverse. From what's at the cinema to what's on the telly, and even a bit of comics and games for you, here is the highlights so far:

• Star Wars is especially British, despite what it may claim about a galaxy far, far away
• What Zainab Akhtar learned from taking a year away from ShortBox Comics Fair, and why she's excited for 2027's return
• Black Mirror's Charlie Brooker recalls challenging himself to dive into new territory: a positive ending