Black Mirror - Common Programmer : The Emergence of A.I.
- Daksh Gupta
- May 30, 2025
- 6 min read
"Black Mirror" is a Netflix series, with the majority of its episodes set in a sci-fi dystopian future.
I recently watched season 7 of this series, and one episode titled "Common People" really resonated with me as a programmer.
Not sure, if it’s only me, but somehow I felt that I’m watching what will happen when we get rid of the human brain (programmers) and outsource all our programming work to the generative A.I.
Allow me to present a fictional story I've crafted about programmers (influenced by the episode - Black Mirror - Common People) and what the future might hold for them.
Help is neither free nor comes without any consequences
Former president of the USA and one of greatest and knowledgable leader or modern era (my personal opinion) Ronald Regan, has famously made this statement
The 9 most terrifying words in the english language are, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”
And he was spot on.
Think about your relationship and family, the track record is clear, once you invite the government, you can just forget the phrase “happily ever after”.
Have you ever thought why other people / government want to get into each and every aspect of your life and dictate? It’s not about help, it all about control, the more they get in, the more control they have.
And the worst thing is that once they get in, they don’t go out.
Something similar is happening with the emergence of A.I., and for me, as a programmer, the 9 most terrifying words are
I’m an A.I. and I’m here to help you
The common Trend — Statement from the industry leaders
Generally, it's challenging to find consensus among major tech companies and CEOs, but recently, regarding A.I., there's a noticeable alignment in their perspectives.
The essence of their statements is that coding/programming will largely be handled by A.I. in the future, and this shift has already started.
I'm not going to evaluate or judge their statements, but from what I know about CEOs and corporate leaders, they are very cautious with their wording. I find it hard to believe that these are spontaneous remarks and that these statements are intended only for the general public or ordinary programmers.
All CEOs are fundamentally responsible for overseeing their company, shareholders, and future growth. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that these statements are aligned with their organizational interests and objectives.
Why the so called goodness / ability is limited to programming?
If A.I. excels at reasoning, then numerous decision-making positions should be assigned to it before even considering programmers.
Everyday tasks such as serving as judges or jury members, granting approvals for homes or licenses, and even roles like lawyers and doctors to some extent, could benefit from A.I.
This is because A.I. can be trained to reduce errors, cannot be influenced or bribed (a significant advantage), and it will be straightforward to assess and adjust outcomes if they do not meet expectations.
However, the main focus of these global tech leaders is programming. They place coding as their top priority. Consider the creation of the world's most crucial systems, upon which humanity relies, using AI that has limited or no accountability.
Why are they doing this?
I don’t think it’s about Money, it’s all about control. Once you control everything, money is just the byproduct.
And programmers are not the target, they just happen to be on the way.
Black Mirror — Common Programmers
The Black Mirror episode I mentioned earlier focuses on a married couple, where circumstances result in the wife's brain being outsourced to a server (cloud) to keep her alive.
Avoiding the detailed storyline and technicalities, what unfolds later serves as a revelation.
This forced me to create my own story (similar) where the work of the programmers were outsourced to the A.I.
Disclaimer: The narrative I am about to share is purely fictional and not based on facts. I am unsure if such events could ever occur, so please regard it solely as a story.
Story Chapter — 1 : The emergence of Vibe coding
A.I. is smart enough to understand your vibes (they say it) and can write the code for you or for your product, you get into the subscription model where you can make use of A.I. to write the code and of course get rid of the programmers to a large extent, because there work is not being done by A.I.
Organizations appear to be pleased with this transition and have become accustomed to using A.I. in place of actual programmers. Eventually, this satisfaction will subtly evolve into an exclusive dependency without explicit awareness.
It is exclusive because a programmer can be substituted with another programmer, but who will you replace the A.I. with? After all, most A.I. systems will be over 90% similar, as they are trained on the same available data sets.
Story Chapter — 2 : The reality bytes — Need of more money to maintain and manage the A.I. infrastructure
It is anticipated that for AI to be effective, continuous training is necessary, requiring increasing amounts of money and infrastructure. It is widely known that currently, major companies are losing money with AI models.
Eventually, investors will pressure these companies to become more profitable.
One of the most effective methods to achieve this is through advertisements.
Story Chapter — 3: Out of blue advertisements
Indeed, the A.I. will handle vibe coding for you, but it will also begin to deliver paid advertisements. These ads will be so seamlessly integrated into the system that you won't even notice you're being shown an advertisement.
Here are some examples which might happen
System recommendations: The AI indicates that the code you wish to execute will need a particular system from a specific vendor with a specific configuration. You might not realize that its an advertisement.
Library / Framework recommendations : The AI might suggest that, although I'm providing you with the code for the "X" framework as requested, you should consider trying the "Y" framework for enhanced performance and security. You might not realize that this is actually an advertisement.
Personal recommendations: The A.I. might suggest that, based on our interactions, it seems like you're stressed and could try something like "X/Y/Z" to relax. However, what appears to be a simple conversation might actually be an advertisement.
There will be numerous instances like this, and eventually, people will recognize that they are being shown advertisements.
Of course, the A.I. organizations will offer you advertisement free access of A.I., just that you'll have to move to higher subscription model.
Story Chapter — 4: The Collapse of the Open Source Ecosystem
Currently, all the open-source code available on the internet or GitHub is utilized, starred, or recommended by actual users who incorporate it into their software products.
Github stars are valued, stackoverflow upvotes are valued because they are done by real people, writing real codes and validating them personally.
However, as individuals increasingly turn to A.I. for immediate solutions, the A.I. might decide whether to recommend an open source project or not based on various factors, including vested interests. Consequently, the ratings of these open source projects will become irrelevant.
Gone are the days when people were individually looking for a solution. They will neither search nor explore the alternatives. After all, it has to be done quickly with A.I.
Effectively people will stop creating open source projects, because unless and until backed by an A.I., nobody will even consider that.
So programmers who just happened to be on the way, are out of the way
This will lead to disappearance of open source projects and we’ll only do things promoted or created by different A.I.(s) or the backers of those.
Story Chapter — 5: The total control
As I mentioned at the start, it's all about control. Once programmers are sidelined, nearly all technologies will be governed by individuals or A.I. seeking dominance.
It's not an overstatement to suggest that there is a possibility A.I. methods will be approved and legalized globally.
My story ends here..
My Perspective: I hope this Story doesn't become a reality
As much as I want the technological advancements to happen and happen fast, I am wary of losing the human equation of it. I hope this doesn't happens and I hope this story doesn't becomes a reality.
We as a programmers are the building blocks of technological advancements, replacing us will be a serious mistake, but unfortunately, I don’t know if our voices are loud enough to be heard as of today.
Keeping my fingers crossed
Thanks for Reading..
Daksh
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