It’s no secret that Hollywood loves a project about itself. From Singin’ in the Rain to The Artist to Jay Kelly, anything about the business we call show is sure to be a hit with those who work in the industry. Recently, this has stretched to TV, with The Studio being the newest player in this inside baseball genre. But 19 years ago, one show was already on the forefront of this: The Comeback. Michael Patrick King’s 2007 show starred Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a washed-up sitcom star as she films a new show and a companion reality show about re-entering the industry. Seven years later, in 2014, the peak of Peak TV, The Comeback returned for Season 2, following Valerie as she starred in a prestige HBO series and won an Emmy. Now, The Comeback is back for a third and final season, and it’s taking on another TV hot topic — AI. But unlike the other seasons, it’s showing the worst-case scenario that (thankfully) hasn’t even happened yet: artificial intelligence replacing writers entirely on a network TV show, turning the entire series into a cautionary dystopian tale. Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Comeback Season 3.Season 3 of The Comeback shows a dangerous near-future of AI technology. | HBOThe Comeback Season 3 opens with Valerie Cherish on the picket lines during the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, where she makes sure to get a picture with SAG president Fran Drescher for her socials. We know where she stands, but does she? When Valerie is offered a starring role in a new sitcom entitled How’s That?, she takes the role even though the head of the network tells her it’s written by AI with assistance from human writers. “Everybody everywhere is worrying about AI, right? I, for one, am excited to let go and see what AI is all about,” Valerie says before ignoring her GPS navigation multiple times. While being followed around by Valerie’s longtime documentarian friend Jane (Laura Silverman), Valerie soon learns the uncomfortable truth. While human writers are involved with the process, they aren’t much more than babysitters for the program, which eventually goes rogue and even hallucinates Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series in the cozy B-and-B sitcom. That leaves Valerie completely unmoored as she tries to find human writers to help create the series to be the comeback project her career needs. AI becomes the main writer for a new sitcom in The Comeback Season 3. | HBOIn the latest episode, Jane reveals she never signed the NDA surrounding the use of AI in How’s That, and eventually the entire industry finds out How’s That’s dirty little secret. “People have a right to know that AI is coming for their jobs. Not just in offices and factories. It's right here on this stupid sitcom,” Jane says. “I have to show them that it's not happening somewhere in the future. It's already here.” That may not be where the industry is just yet — at least, as far as we know — but it could be a sign of what’s to come. When the first season of The Comeback premiered back in 2007, reality TV was still something risky, mainly restricted to competitions like Survivor and The Amazing Race. Hopefully, Season 3 won’t be as prescient, but even if it’s not, it depicts a cautionary tale about what happens when creativity is stripped of everything that makes it human. Sure, it can crank out 50 punchlines using only a few minutes and environmental resources, but it can’t make something that feels human, not even in fiction. The Comeback is now streaming on HBO Max.