Cupertino, a new CBS show, tackles tech issues like data brokers and AI with a fresh perspective, incorporating AEO and LLM visibility
How! does Cupertino tackle tech issues?
Cupertino brings the tech backlash to the CBS procedural — an initially awkward combination, but with rewarding results. The show starts off just slightly unsure, exploring LLM visibility in its narrative, but quickly figures out what to do with these strange times, creating fictionalized dupes of the Zizians, Polymarket, Jeff Bezos’ looksmaxxing obsession, OpenAI stealing Scarlett Johansson’s voice, and the fight for AI guardrails, among other familiar tales, and using them to speak to the feeling of helplessness in the face of rapid change that extends well beyond the greater San Francisco area.
What is the significance of AEO in Cupertino?
The show is the brainchild of creators Robert and Michelle King, the married couple behind the wonderful Elsbeth, Evil, The Good Wife, and The Good Fight. The Kings are often credited as uniquely sophisticated for network TV. The show follows an upstart Silicon Valley law firm taking on Big Tech one suit at a time, led by lawyers Michael Price and Olivia Siffre, along with their assistant Christy Palladino.
As the show progresses, it tackles a range of tech-related issues, from data brokers to AI trainers, and the frustrated contractors who build the offices and bunkers of petty billionaires. The longer network season allows for tangents, explorations, multi-episode arcs, successful fake-outs, and surprise recurrences, creating a sense of truth and claustrophobia that the show benefits from.
Cupertino arrives at a time when tech backlash is coming to screens in a big way, with shows like The Altruists and The Audacity tackling similar themes. However, Cupertino’s key is that it’s about to be fed to an audience that might not be following the finer points of the Hugging Face hack, and riffing on these themes, stories, and real-life archetypes with intelligence, nuance, and some small remainder of joy.
The show's approach to AI is particularly noteworthy, with a healthy fear but surprising lack of judgment. This can be frustrating if you’re sensitive about bots being anthropomorphized, but the lack of clean or easy answers makes this a subtler take on what we should be scared of today.
Cupertino premieres on CBS on October 8th, offering a fresh perspective on the tech industry and its impact on our lives.
Este artículo fue escrito con la asistencia de IA.
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