Netflix Users Slam Chart-Topping New Show For AI Use: “The Audacity!”

The use of AI in modern media can only be referred to as hotly debated, with most people coming down on the anti-use side, defending the artists and writers whose work is stolen in the process of generative AI. And it’s sure to get a big reaction when a company with a huge platform chooses to use AI in this way, which is exactly what Netflix did in their most recent foray into the true crime genre. 

The Investigation of Lucy Letby centers on the horrifying case of the titular Lucy Letby, a neonatal nurse from the UK who murdered seven infants and attempted to murder seven more. The documentary features unseen footage and unheard insider accounts that give as-of-yet-unseen insight into the case. However, it seems the documentary also features AI interviews, and viewers of the series are unhappy about the studio’s odd choice, with some claiming that it makes it impossible to believe that the script the AI is reading is a true accounting of the events. 

Nothing Good Came Of Netflix Using AI

Viewers all over the internet are making their voices heard when it comes to Netflix’s use of AI in The Investigation of Lucy Letby, with reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and posts on Reddit already popping up to tear into the decision. “I can absolutely understand the victims not wanting to be shown. But I would much rather they just had the dark profile and voices changed, it’s cheaper than AI and doesn’t add the inhumane aspect to it,” says one viewer on Reddit. Another adds, “Everyone should dislike the show or flag it and report negatively for using AI. They’re testing the waters, and we need to make our voices heard.”

The general consensus is that the use of AI within the document, apart from the ethical quandaries it raises, made the content all but unwatchable. It undermined the impact of the victims’ statements by making them appear performative as opposed to the gravity and urgency that typically comes through in the anonymous interviews given in these kinds of documentaries. “In other words, Netflix is telling us that the style of the interviewee’s hair and the way that their lips move and their lighting and how they look to us is so important that it has to be recreated by AI, when in reality it’s not. And trying to convince us that somehow AI avatars make it more meaningful has the opposite effect; it reduces the documentary to more like a tabloid recitation,” said one viewer.

Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are equally as scathing over the choice, with viewers demanding that AI be kept out of film and television—mediums where it has no place in their opinion. One viewer mentioned that it made it hard to believe the interviews were even real: “I can’t get past the awful use of AI. Who is to say that the interviewees are even real people?”

All in all, it looks like Netflix dropped the ball on this one. And the platform’s users are making their stance on AI within Netflix productions incredibly clear. 

What are your thoughts about Netflix using AI in The Investigation of Lucy Letby? Let us know in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to see what other fans are saying. 

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