{"id":60106,"date":"2025-04-29T11:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T11:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/60106\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T11:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T11:41:08","slug":"bbc-making-black-mirror-style-series-on-ai-with-hannah-fry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/60106\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Making ‘Black Mirror’-Style Series On AI With Hannah Fry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: <\/strong>The BBC<\/a>\u2019s head of science<\/a> and natural history has greenlit a \u201creal life Black Mirror<\/a>\u201d-style documentary series about AI while revealing his red lines when it comes to using artificial intelligence to make TV shows. <\/p>\n

\n\tJack Bootle<\/a>, who runs specialist factual for the BBC, was speaking to Deadline yesterday before a glitzy London event hosted by his BBC science team that featured talks from top talent and the Director General. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn advance of the event, Bootle sat down with Deadline and revealed new show AI Confidential<\/a> with Hannah Fry<\/a> [working title], which he described as like a \u201creal life Black Mirror\u201d in reference to Charlie Brooker\u2019s dystopian Netflix smash about the dangers of technology.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn AI Confidential, which is produced by The Man With 1000 Kids producer Curious Films, the host will \u201cinvestigate extraordinary tales from the front lines of the AI revolution,\u201d according to the BBC. <\/p>\n

\n\tBootle didn\u2019t elaborate too much on the \u201cextraordinary tales\u201d as the \u201caccess is so perilous,\u201d but he teased examples of \u201cpeople falling in love with chatbots and then doing extraordinary things as a result\u201d or \u201cpeople whose lives have been completely changed by a decision made by a robot.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are amazing yarns that have something really interesting, illuminating and I think quite disturbing to say about AI,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tArtificial intelligence is a hot topic on screen at present but its use is also being debated behind the camera. Bootle said he is \u201cnot wholly opposed\u201d to carefully using generative AI in TV production but revealed a firm red line.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI would only ever use it in a situation when the real thing can never be photographed,\u201d he explained. \u201cI always get brought ideas from producers who say they want to [for example] recreate the savanna on a smaller budget using generative AI. There can be value if you can\u2019t photograph the place but if it\u2019s something which could otherwise be filmed then I don\u2019t want to do it. That\u2019s not because I\u2019m snooty or opposed to generative AI but I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s as special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn history programming, which Bootle also looks after, he said there could soon come a point where civilizations that could previously only be replicated on a \u201chuge Hollywood budget\u201d will be depicted for a far lower cost via generative AI. <\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside AI Confidential, Bootle has also greenlit a doc in which blind Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland<\/a> will travel to Silicon Valley to explore how cutting-edge technology could\u00a0transform his life.<\/p>\n

\n\tChris McCausland: Seeing into the Future reflects the host\u2019s passion for all things tech as he examines areas like robots, driverless tech and the future of smart glasses.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving been fully blind since his early 20s, McCausland is a rare example of a disabled person hosting a mainstream science show but Bootle stressed that \u201cshining a light on his passion for tech\u201d is what bagged the greenlight for McCausland and the show\u2019s producer Open Mike Productions. The comedian became the first blind winner of BBC entertainment juggernaut Strictly last year, three years after Rose-Ayling Ellis \u2013 who is currently starring in two mainstream network TV dramas \u2013 was the first deaf contestant to take home the Strictly trophy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDrowning in a tide of misinformation\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRobert F. Kennedy Jr. Image: Andrew Harnik\/Getty<\/p>\n

\n\tBootle and Davie spoke passionately last night about the need for science shows to cut through the noise in a modern content landscape that can sometimes prioritize conspiracy theory over fact.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs the world drowns in a tide of misinformation, it has never been more important to talk about the BBC\u2019s commitment to accurate and ambitious science programming,\u201d said Bootle in advance of the event. \u201cAnd as anti-science voices become more and more significant on the world stage, it makes what we do more important and urgent than what we did before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe cited two examples, one being Trump\u2019s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has promoted debunked theories connecting vaccines with autism, and another being how his social media feed is \u201cabsolutely full of people telling me, as a man in his 40s, to take testosterone.\u201d \u201cThings like this happen every day and I wake up in this sea of confusion,\u201d added Bootle. \u201cWe all feel this sense of bafflement and fatigue. And so we look to our leaders for guidance and then we have the U.S. Health Secretary linking autism to vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC cannot fly the science programming flag alone and yet too often does, he added, as he urged competitors including rival UK networks and big American streamers to make more science shows. Bootle revealed a ream of stats to back up his point, finding that the BBC is responsible for 83% of science TV content across all UK pubcasters and last year landed 169 million hours worth of views to its science content compared to just 15 million on the streamers. BBC Two\u2019s most-watched show of the year, for example, was Brian Cox\u2019s Solar System, he said. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think there is a feeling out there in the world of TV that science is important but is a niche interest genre,\u201d added Bootle. \u201cBut I believe and have always believed that if you get the offer right you can bring in massive audiences. I ask [our competitors] to rise to the moment and commit to a big new wave of science commissioning, shows which take science seriously and are underpinned by proper rigorous science journalism, and not just crap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: The BBC\u2019s head of science and natural history has greenlit a \u201creal life Black Mirror\u201d-style documentary series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3163],"tags":[323,31197,1942,192,2979,31198,31199,31200,70,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-60106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-confidential","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-bbc","12":"tag-black-mirror","13":"tag-chris-mccausland","14":"tag-hannah-fry","15":"tag-jack-bootle","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-technology","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114421070766621707","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}