Consumers far and wide are already aware of the fact that artificial intelligence has infiltrated just about every corner of our lives in 2025 and beyond. While this seems to be a fact of life, some people are struggling to come to grips with the ethical employment of AI systems. This is especially true of AI’s use in art, nonfiction media and the spread of information. Netflix subscribers specifically have been tangling with this ethical conundrum, as the streamer continues diving further down the rabbit hole of generative AI on their platform. While the average viewer may not take notice, certain instances have drawn ire from Netflix subscribers. Since this is a developing and ongoing situation, now seems like as good a time as any to examine exactly how Netflix employs artificial intelligence, and unpack some of the backlash the platform is receiving.
How Does Netflix Use AI?
Like many modern film and television companies, Netflix has been leaning progressively harder on generative AI in recent months. Though the platform is only expected to continue ramping up support of these automated processes, not all of their early outings have been a hit with fans. Two specific examples have caused outrage among subscribers, impacting projects such as A Different World and American Murder: Gabby Petito. The former, a 1980’s era sitcom, was recently remastered for Netflix in HD quality. Fans of the series flocked to the streamer to see if the HD remaster holds up to their own nostalgia, only to become severely disappointed when they learned that many of the visuals in the series had been reduced to a lifeless amalgam of AI slop. Apparently the remaster was carelessly handled by chucking the original digital recordings into a generative AI prompt, which yielded spotty results, to say the least.
By all accounts, episodes of A Different World streaming on Netflix look fine when viewed on a small, low-res screen. This means that viewers watching on cell phones or even iPads won’t even notice the bizarre changes. For television viewers, however, the show now offers squished, almost watercolor backgrounds, twisted up faces, and flattened background characters. The rare instances where text is viewable on screen are some of the worst moments, as the letters have been jumbled into a mess of random gibberish. Some fans likened their viewing experience to something they’d expect to see while tripping on hallucinogenics. Others referred to the remastered graphics as grotesque, and described an almost immediate feeling of unease while viewing the show. This was a major change of pace for Netflix, as the platform previously offered remastered versions of old sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends and Roseanne, to overwhelming audience acclaim.
Artificial Intelligence in ‘American Murder: Gabby Petito’
While fans of A Different World were experiencing the uncanny valley, true crime fans were experiencing unmitigated outrage. A disclaimer at the top of the Netflix true crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito explains that the titular murder victim’s voice has been “brought to life in this series… using voice recreation technology.” Essentially, the filmmakers behind American Murder took it upon themselves to compile hundreds of hours of voice files from Gabby Petito’s many vlogs and video journals, and use them to train an artificial intelligence model. From there, they tasked the AI with repeating voice prompts, in order to manipulate the late woman’s vocals into saying certain words or phrases.
For the average viewer, it may be impossible to determine which Gabby Petito recordings are genuine and which are constructed by a computer. Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone, as Petito’s own family disapproved of the voice. While speaking to The Independent, Petito’s mother explained, “I think it’s weird and because we know her actual voice, [it] is a little off. It’s just hard to hear.” Her stepfather echoed these sentiments, arguing, “AI or her real voice, I still get upset hearing it knowing she’s gone.” Even with these objections, watchdog groups like the Center for AI and Digital Policy have argued that AI vocal reconstruction is a general gray area ethically speaking. President and policy director Merve Hickok condemned the use of AI in American Murder, stating that Petito’s voice had been “taken away against her will.”
Does Netflix Use AI To Write Scripts?
All of this controversy surrounding AI on the Netflix platform has led many subscribers to wonder if the streamer also employs generative writing in their original films and shows. In fact, you may recall seeing headlines about Netflix executives’ insistence at using AI written content during the WGA strike of 2023. While Netflix was a major holdout in contract negotiations with the WGA, the streamer did eventually cave on some of their artificial intelligence demands, and wound up enshrining certain rights for union writers to maintain control over their material. All this is to say, there are no Netflix projects with fully AI-written scripts, as per the WGA union rules.
The higher-ups at the platform would surely pivot to a ChatGPT script if they could, but Netflix is currently bound to obey their WGA deal until May 2026 at least. Of course, there are no guardrails in place which specifically state that no AI writing can be used whatsoever, so it’s entirely possible that Netflix screenwriters are utilizing small amounts of AI in their work at their own discretion.
How Can Netflix Improve Their Use of AI?
As stated, Netflix has been using AI in a myriad of ways for some time now. In most instances, such as past HD upscaling and algorithmic recommendation queues, subscribers don’t even make note. The above examples have caused backlash because they are particularly noticeable, leaving viewers with an overall negative viewing experience. Like many aspects of filmmaking, the most effective use of AI would see filmmakers hiding their generative content in plain sight, and delivering a final product that is indistinguishable from a fully man-made film. For now, the streamer is already working to improve their use of artificial intelligence, with an entire FAQ page on their official website dedicated to the future of machine learning.
On that page, Netflix engineers explain, “Our research spans a diverse array of areas, reflecting the complexity and breadth of machine learning applications. We explore innovative techniques for efficient estimation methods in predictive modeling, and how these models are applied in real-world, discrete survival settings.” Artificial intelligence models, and other iterations of machine learning, are integral to the way that the Netflix platform functions. Even still, engineers at the streamer are working tirelessly to overhaul their use of AI every day, in order to ensure that viewers are treated to a more seamless experience. With any luck, this could mean that future remasters will include properly smoothed-out visuals, and avoid potentially problematic implementation of new tech.
