Netflix documentary that became a hit is accused of manipulating images with artificial intelligence

What Did Jennifer Do?documentary by true crime from the Netflix which is among the most watched on the platform, was accused of manipulating images with artificial intelligence (AI) for dramatization purposes. The production rescues the shocking story of Jennifer Pan, a Canadian who devised a plan to murder her parents in 2010.

The allegations, which quickly spread across social media, came to light in an article on the website Futurism, specialized in science and technology. At a certain point in the documentary, a friend of Jennifer Pan from high school describes the young woman as “cheerful, confident and very genuine” – images of Pan happy appear on the scene, to illustrate.

In one of them, Pan makes a face at the camera and makes a peace sign with her fingers, which appear slightly deformed. On close examination, the girl’s left hand, for example, appears to have only two fingers.

This deformation in hands and fingers is a common characteristic of images generated by AI, given the technology’s limitation in generating the details of the human hand. As argued by the Futurismit is also possible to notice in such images cut fingers, misshapen facial details, objects transformed into the background and a front tooth that is too long in relation to the other.

The case is controversial because it is a documentary about a real crime, committed by a real person – who, in fact, is currently serving a sentence in prison. The controversy comes up against discussions about the ethical limits of the use of artificial intelligence, constantly on the agenda in the entertainment industry in recent times.

“This is not inventing a fictional narrative for the sake of entertainment – ​​it is tampering with the very structure of reality to manipulate a true story that really happened,” condemned the website. Netflix would thus be distorting the historical record by not disclosing the use of AI, setting a worrying precedent for non-fiction productions.

There is no mention of the use of artificial intelligence in the film’s credits. So far, Netflix has not commented on the accusations. O Estadão contacted the platform through its press office, but has not yet received a response. The space remains open.

In an interview with the Canadian newspaper Toronto Star, documentary producer Jeremy Grimaldi commented vaguely on the allegations. “Any filmmaker uses different tools, like Photoshop, on films,” he said. “Jennifer’s photos are real photos of her. The foreground is exactly her. The background was anonymized to protect the source”, added Grimaldi.