I love a good True Crime documentary. They’re always fascinating sources for ideas about characters, motivations, and even set pieces.
But with the rise of AI, it’s getting kind of hard to believe what you’re seeing in some of them.
The very essence of true crime is the need for what you see on the screen to be evidence you put together as you watch. But in the recent Netflix docuseries What Jennifer Did, there have been accusations that some of the photos of Jennifer Pan, the titular character, were manipulated by or created by AI.
You can view the photos in question on the Futurism website, which has a breakdown of each as well.
One is an image of Pen giving the peace sign, where things just seem off. Her hands are wonky, her body seems contorted, and her armpit seems way too high. There are also background elements that are blurry or feel digitally manipulated.
The second photo is a closeup of Pan smiling, where her tooth seem too long, and her ears do not match.
Netflix has not made any statement, but if this did happen, it raises huge ethical concerns.
Pan is a real person who is not eligible for parole until 2040 for a murder-for-hire plot. There’s plenty of evidence in the docuseries as to why this is. Why create two photos to throw into the mix that could challenge everything else in the series? Especially when it jeopardizes the integrity of all the other stuff you put forward.
This is a really fine line to walk. It can seem harmless to create images that are not accusatory of a person, but when the entire ethos of a documentary is to document what’s real, you undercut the mission from the start.
We’ll keep you updated as this story develops.
Source: 404 Media
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
