Annie Murphy Hopes Her AI-Inspired ‘Black Mirror’ Episode Raises Awareness of Tech’s Dangers: ‘Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened’

SPOILER WARNING: The following Annie Murphy interview discusses spoilers for “Black Mirror” Season 6 episode “Joan Is Awful.”

After its four-year hiatus since Season 5, “Black Mirror” is back with haunting explorations of technology and society. In an all-too-timely turn, Season 6’s premiere episode “Joan Is Awful” sets its sights on the “incredibly powerful and incredibly mysterious” capabilities of artificial intelligence — which star Annie Murphy admits “couldn’t be scarier.”

“When we started shooting back in September, we were all talking about how timely and relevant this content was,” Murphy told TheWrap. “Cut to today, and it’s not this kind of Charlie Brooker down-the-road fictional technology that exists, it’s genuinely happening as we speak. The timing couldn’t be better, but also the world couldn’t be scarier.”

In “Joan Is Awful,” Murphy plays Joan, an ordinary woman who is shocked to discovery a dramatized version of her life — portrayed by the one and only Salma Hayek — has made its way onto her TV on streaming service Streamberry. As the series documents Joan’s disintegrating life in almost real time with daily episodes generated by an all-powerful computer, Joan learns that she handed over her rights to be filmed and depicted in the series when she accepted Streamberry’s terms and conditions.

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“I hope that our episode, as funny as it can be — and it does, I think, have a semi-hopeful end to it — does spark some conversation regarding the repercussions that AI can have,” Murphy continued. “[AI] is like Pandora’s box has been opened. It’s this incredibly powerful and incredibly mysterious science and technology that we genuinely know nothing about.”

As the WGA strike closes out its seventh week with concerns of protections over AI a priority for striking writers, Murphy urges “Black Mirror” viewers to think deeply about the consequences of the technology and how it might continue to impact society.

“When some of the most brilliant minds in the world are calling for a pause, so we can start trying to comprehend what the repercussions of AI will be, that’s a really scary moment,” Murphy said. “I hope that people do listen to these smart people who know more than we do, and we just take a breath and try to decide what we want the world to look like going forward.”

“Black Mirror” Season 6 is now streaming on Netflix.

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