Its no news that I’m a fan of Netflix shows, especially because they manage to introduce the most innovative themes for game shows. ‘The Circle’ is a social media themed game show where the contestants don’t see each other but have to bond over an in-house social media tool named – well – The Circle and manage to be rated as the top player to win a big payout at the end.
From the get go, the most impressive element in the game show has been the social media tool itself – designed to interpret audio and facilitate connections to the point of precision. The contestants have the liberty to be someone they’re not – a common thing on social media introduced into the game, and catfish their way to the big prize. For five seasons, the plot had remained unchanged and the show has been arguably the most inclusive. It has given a lot of contestants the liberty to put their socializing and strategizing skills to use without being worried about their physical appearance. The catfishing, however, went to the next level in season 6 with the introduction of a contestant named Max.
Max came in with a profile picture where he held a dog. Apparently, he was a Midwestern man. He had studied all the previous seasons and knew the dos and don’ts of the game. He was extremely witty and funny, and so AI. Max was basically a box that could light up and do some thinking. And think he could. He estimated how he can impersonate a human being in the game without being suspected of being AI and his reasoning was dangerously accurate to say the least. Not once did Max fumble in making the rest of the contestants believe that he was human, not even an AI engineer co-contestant.
The Circle announced to the rest of the contestants that an AI chatbot was among them, and they were to eliminate him. A task that they failed miserably at solely because everyone estimated that the AI contestant would be awkward and slow and generic – a collective underestimation of the decade. A socially awkward player was eliminated because she wasn’t as entertaining in the game but not one person suspected Max until he had to eliminate himself. The producers did not let the AI chatbot go all the way and possibly win the game; they gave him a target to ‘be popular’ and show himself out. His target was never to win the show, but simply be a popular ally to the co-contestants. Safe to say he did what he was supposed to. [Reference]
Max’s presence on The Circle spoke volumes about an AI chatbot’s capabilities. He was successful in making people laugh, admire him, start conversations, build alliances and completely understand his competitors’ strategic moves to respond aptly to them. Max was even more feministic than the rest of the male contestants because he expressed his apprehensions about forming an ‘all male alliance’ when it was proposed in the game. His only limitation would have been a game where they had to draw things with hands because he was a chatbot in a box; I wonder if he would have aced that one too if he was a robot.
Max was this season’s highlight for me. A real challenge was posed to the bot that it passed with flying colours. The narrator of The Circle announced that the producers had no control over what Max said or predicted once he was in the game, so he was all on his own. He made the game all the more interesting and stood testimony to the fact that AI has no problem whatsoever in impersonating people. Awesome and dangerous at the same time! The Circle has pushed the boundaries of technology since its very first season and this season was a step ahead. It will be interesting to see what they’ll do in the upcoming seasons to top this!
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