“There is no place for them here.” “I knew he would die in two days.” Jana Haumann (Lilly Charlotte Dreesen) sits in her student apartment and gets the shock of her life. While listening to an audio file for his work, he overhears an assassination plot. A certain Manuela should have been killed. Time keeps running. When Jana was let go from a company currently developing digital voice assistants, the student needed help.
On the Internet he met private detective and bookseller Georg Wilsberg. About to open her second-hand bookstore in downtown Münster, the young woman in the “Wilsberg” episode “Phantomtod” (ZDF, Saturday, November 15, 20:15) is initially disappointed: “You are portrayed as so new on the Internet. In the analog world, you are quite old.” Wilsberg retorts coldly: “That’s why the old analog guy is now taking care of his old analog books too” and slams the door in Jana’s face.
The laptop disappeared
But Wilsberg’s (Leonard Lansink) curiosity is aroused, especially since the young woman doesn’t give up. When his laptop was later stolen from the dorm, Wilsberg also realized something was wrong here and danger was near.
What started with exciting bombshells and killer announcements developed into a “Wilsberg” episode with at least careful questions about artificial intelligence (AI) and digital aids such as voice assistants for personal use. What exactly are they recording? And what do service providers gain from this? And how can AI help police in investigations? Similar software from the US company is available in some states Palantir already used. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) is also reviewing the use of Palantir.
What AI can do
In the past, “Wilsberg” scripts often weakened when discussing socially critical topics because the index finger was raised too contorted. In this episode (written by Stefan Scheich and directed by Martin Enlen) it works better. The AI commissioner on the computer screen is just a hint at technical possibilities. But viewers are shocked when the technology uses probability and video surveillance to determine who stole Jana’s laptop.
Family problems in the company
Apart from AI, it is also about the problems of the family of the founder of the language assistant company. Hermann Rupert (Gerd Silberbauer) wants to arrange a succession. Wife Ulrike (Ruth Reinecke) plays a background role and daughter Simone (Kathrin von Steinburg) is in the same position as her brother Jens (Matthias Weidenhöfer). There is no chemistry between business economists and development heads. To make matters worse, evil influencer Torben Schlagholz (Seán McDonagh) is also stirring up sentiment against the company online.
In the end, Wilsberg also has to solve a murder – in classic analog fashion.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251115-930-295839/1
