By Noah Thomas ’28
On November 5, 2026, the Dominguez Center for Data Science held a movie night event showing the Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back”. Organized by the DCDS Student Liaisons, this event aimed to bring together students while also encouraging them to think about how artificial intelligence can affect us and society as a whole.
As part of the event, students met in Holmes Hall to watch the aforementioned episode. The episode explores questions surrounding data privacy and potential implications of using AI to recreate human personalities, interactions, and relationships.
After the viewing, the students gathered to have a discussion about the material in the episode and what it could mean for us. Questions such as “Do you think data privacy should be taken more seriously?” and “Would you like a version of yourself out in the real world that your family doesn’t know about?” were focal points of the discussion.
Ultimately, students concluded that while AI has the potential to do incredible things, its development and use must be approached carefully. The discussion emphasized the importance of individual privacy and placing limits on this technology as it advances. While the reality we saw in this episode may not reach us in our lifetime, the event highlighted the importance of thinking critically about AI today to ensure that future generations can coexist with this technology responsibly.