“Why are you trying to optimize the creative process?” snaps Deborah Vance on the sixth episode of Hacks’ latest season. “That’s one of the things we’ve actually figured out—we’re good there.” Deborah, played by Jean Smart on the hit HBO comedy, is talking to a tech bro who is trying to convince her to get on board with the AI revolution and use her voice and writing to create an AI program. While she’s open to the idea at first, she realizes the program would erase all the parts of the creative process that, in the end, lead to real, human comedy. She turns him down—hard. Hacks is just one of several HBO shows this season to make AI a main character—and a controversial one at that. On the third season of The Comeback, Valerie (Lisa Kudrow) gets a job leading a new sitcom that is secretly being written by AI. On The Pitt, a new doctor is pushing for an AI program that she claims will help the doctors with efficiency and diagnosis. Even …