AI as a Mirror: How TV Uses Artificial Intelligence to Reflect Social Issues

Artificial intelligence in television is no longer just about flashy robots and futuristic tech. Today, AI serves as a powerful metaphor—a mirror that reflects humanity’s deepest anxieties, aspirations, and contradictions. In shows ranging from ‘Westworld’ to ‘Black Mirror’, AI is less about the machines themselves and more about the societies that create them.

One of the most consistent themes in AI-driven TV is the question of identity and personhood. In ‘Humans’ and ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, sentient AI beings like Synths and androids are depicted struggling for recognition, rights, and dignity. These narratives closely parallel real-world civil rights movements, immigration debates, and the societal tendency to dehumanise “the other.” AI becomes a stand-in for marginalised communities, forcing viewers to confront uncomfortable questions about equality, empathy, and systemic bias.

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Shows also use AI to explore corporate control and surveillance capitalism. In ‘Black Mirror’, artificial intelligence often represents unchecked technological power, where companies can resurrect loved ones as bots or predict criminal behaviour before it happens. These stories critique the commodification of personal data and the erosion of privacy in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms.

AI also examines gender roles and power dynamics. In ‘Westworld,’ the female hosts—especially Dolores and Maeve—evolve from submissive roles into powerful agents of change, mirroring broader feminist discourses about autonomy and resistance. The show asks whether rebellion is inevitable when intelligence, artificial or not, is suppressed.

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Mental health and emotional disconnection are other recurring topics. Series like ‘Devs’ and ‘Upload’ use AI to question the boundaries between the real and the simulated, raising issues of grief, loss, and the human desire to control or avoid death. These themes resonate in an era marked by digital overload, emotional isolation, and an obsession with optimisation.

Ultimately, AI in TV isn’t just science fiction—it’s social fiction. By projecting today’s moral dilemmas onto artificial beings, these shows help us examine our own behaviour, systems, and values. They hold up a mirror not to the future, but to the present, urging us to consider who we are and who we’re becoming in a world shaped by the technologies we create.

–Farheen Ali