'Mrs. Davis' show creators Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez joined Cheddar News' Trending Show to talk about the hot topic of artificial intelligence.

'Mrs. Davis' show creators Damon Lindeloff and Tara Hernandez joined Cheddar News' Trending Show this week to talk about developing the series for Peacock, AI's role in the show and how we're all adapting to the tech in real life. The series is set to begin streaming on April 20.

'Mrs. Davis' Creators Talk New Show and the Growing Popularity of AI

Damon, what is Mrs Davis? Mrs Davis is an all powerful all knowing app that exists on pretty much the entire world's phones and, and she or it, depending on how you refer to it can tell you what the weather is going to be. And also whether or not you should get a divorce or leave your job or find a new path in your life. So, Terra, one thing we're seeing about this year South by Southwest is there's so much about AI whether it's art or even other TV shows. So why do you think we're so fascinated by AI at this point? Absolutely. I think it's what jurors to this project in the beginning. Is it something that felt like it was on the horizon? It's a little bit terrifying. You know, just how much control we as humans are sort of seeding to these technologies, these numbers, this code and I feel like it's always going to capture people's fascination, you know, the unknown. It still has a big question mark over how we're going to implement it, implement this tech into our lives. You know, if we're going to turn to it in place of traditional religion will say, you know, and look for purpose and look for meaning, you know, based on what these, these chat box can tell us. Um So I think because it feels so new and mysterious and exciting, it's just captivated all of us. Speaking of religion, one of the parts of Mrs Davis includes a nun who is battling A I kind of like battling evil forces. So why bring the nun and religion in? Well, if you have a piece of technology that people are basically asking, what should I do with my life? Am I a good person? I've lost my sense of purpose. Can you give me guidance? These are all areas that religion used to cater sort of exclusively to and religion is works on sort of a mystery engine which is you have to kind of take things on faith alone as the world becomes more science based and less faith based. People want results. Now they don't want to wait until they die to see if there's an afterlife. It's basically like getting me a plot in the metaverse. And so this idea that ultimately that we imagine that what if technology began to look at religion as a competitor um that it needed to kind of wipe out. And so this nun is basically she's the avatar of all religious institutions fighting for some form of, of faith because at the core of all AI is the word artificial. Um it isn't real. And I think that part of being human is sort of trying to find this sort of authentic and understanding of what our purposes in the world. And the idea that we're starting to ask machines that we ourselves program to answer those questions for us is definitely going to threaten the world's religious institutions. David, a lot of your shows like Lost Watchman, the leftovers, it presents an alternate reality that's not too far from what's possible. Mrs Davis is based entirely in the Real World. So what draws you into this idea of a fictional but not too strange future? Quite frankly. I'm just, I'm so, uh, anxious about the Real World that the only way for me to process my anxiety is to talk about the things that make me really anxious through sort of a fictional lens. And thank God for terra because I think that I tend to get very depressed and dark and pessimistic about things. And I think that this part, one of the great things about this partnership and, you know, and Tara is the lead singer of this particular band is, I think that people who watch Mrs Dave, I realize I actually feel a lot better watching this show than watching The Leftovers or Watchmen. But at the same time, it still deals with the same kind of ideas and concepts and questions that a lot of the stories that I love to watch will always engage in terra sci fi has become mainstream. So what is it about this genre at this time that is becoming so popular and making TV shows like yours become the water cooler top? Absolutely. I think, you know, we're always gonna be fascinated again with the mystery of the future and what, what happens, what happens on the other side of, you know, today or our time here on earth. And I just think it's, it's in our nature to be curious beings and sci fi has always been, you know, specific artists, exploration of that and whether it's presented in a dystopian future, a blade runner or it's got more like pristine shine like 2001. I think it's always going to be as humans who are reaching ahead, captivate audiences. So for us, we sort of call it like five minutes in the future, which is a history, a timeline that looks a bit like now, but it's just tweaked a little. And for a show that was, we started Mrs Davis three years ago, which was just at the star, the pandemic and the lockdown. And so we were, we were looking for sort of escape and we were looking for a world that, that never existed. And that science fiction when you're essentially rewriting history, you know, it's a fantasy that we never locked down that, you know, people didn't pass away from COVID. And so I think that when you're, when you're storytellers, like we are and you want to escape reality because it terrifies you. Sci fi is the best place to be.