Emma Vilarasau, AI specialist in the new 3Cat series

BarcelonaArtificial intelligence has ceased to be a futuristic technology to become part of everyday life. Now 3Cat places it at the center of a new series, LIA, which starting this Tuesday will be available on the platform. The fiction focuses its plots on four doctoral thesis students who have entered LIA (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), a pioneering program in applied AI coordinated by Rita Garcia, a character played by Emma Vilarasau.

The popular actress leads a cast marked by young talent. The four female scientists –Juliana, Neret, Fatoumata and Cyrielle– are played by Cristina Colom, Clara Sans, Mireia Vilapuig and Laura Viñals. All of them will face the moral, economic and technical challenges of their projects, which touch upon different fields, such as health, security, the environment or the automotive industry. For example, one of them creates an algorithm to detect harassers on social networks.

LIA, which has six episodes, is a scientific series with a female perspective and, in fact, one of its objectives is to promote a vocation for STEAM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) among female students. The protagonists' scientific projects are inspired by real lines of research that are currently being developed. To be as faithful as possible to the reality of this world, the series has had the advice of four Catalan scientists specializing in robotics, bioinformatics and satellites: Meritxell Bassolas, head of the strategy area at the Computer Vision Center (CVC) and coordinator of the Ellis Barcelona Unit; Carme Torras, doctor in computer science from the UPC and expert in assistive robotics; Alba Jené, scientific coordinator of Life Sciences at the Barcelona Supercomputer Center (BSC); and Ana Freire, doctor in computer science, vice-dean at the UPF Barcelona School of Management and expert in artificial intelligence. The series was filmed in Barcelona and Montserrat, and locations that are benchmarks in the scientific and technological field were used, such as the Barcelona Supercomputer Center (BSC) and the Alba Synchrotron.

Although it is a technological universe series, LIA does not set aside the human side of the characters. In an interview with TV3, the main actresses stated that one of the attractions of the fiction is the relationships established between the four students; the realization that the connection between people is still necessary. "We wanted to approach the debate from a more humanist perspective and by looking for ethical lines. In the end, it is people who have control of this AI," explained director Ana Millán to TV3.