AI has been used to put a scary new face on a long-standing issue with Amazon's Prime Video service.
Earlier this week, a screenshot was posted on X showing a few different options for watching the 1957 version of 12 Angry Men that premiered on Prime Video. At first glance, there's nothing strange about that, but upon closer inspection, it looks like the free-to-play version of the crime classic is clearly AI-generated.
Not only are there 19 angry people in the jury, but most of their faces are unrecognizably twisted.
Social media had a field day. “Prime Video is introducing the free version of 12 Angry Men featuring 19 disabled men with AI. What rubbish,” wrote one X user.
Another post, which has been viewed more than 1.6 million times, said: “Just watching on Prime Video, 19 Horrible People. It's amazing that this is on the front page of a major streaming platform. We have truly entered the age of AI slop.
But instead of a bootleg version of 12 Angry Men, the AI thumbnail takes subscribers of the original version of the movie uploaded by Orion-Nova Productions. The studio was bought by MGM in the 90s. The second was installed by MGM themselves.
So why are there two versions of the same movie on Amazon Prime Video for different prices, and why are studios promoting their own movies with messy AI artwork?
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
On Reddit, another user pointed out that this now-visible thumbnail is the end result of content creators uploading their own videos to Amazon's streaming service via the Video Direct feature, many looking to make a quick buck by uploading classic bootleg versions. Movies.
“Amazon gets more ‘movies' and engagement for Prime Video, and the bottom feeders get a little easier money. Everyone wins — except for the people who care about movie quality,” they wrote.
But this is nothing now. It's been a long-term affair for Prime Video, which brings together various channels for its library.
The version of “12 Angry Men” with the original artwork appears to be available for rent directly from Amazon, while the AI-promoted movie comes from the Freevy platform. In fact, it's more a matter of streamers' search functionality causing these problems, rather than viewers killing classics with AI.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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