On January 29, 2026 TIME Magazine announced a new series they would release on Youtube titled “On This Day… 1776.” While shows like this have been made time and time again, this series is different with it being made entirely using AI. The series is led by auteur filmmaker Darren Aronofsky who has directed many great films that focus on the beauty of humanity. He has made films like “Requiem For A Dream” (2000), “Black Swan” (2010), “The Whale” (2022), and many more. Confusion struck the film industry and fandom as to why a filmmaker who has focused so much on humanity decided to jump on the AI bandwagon.
The series focuses on the beginning of America as a country and specific days in history around the time of the episode’s release. Every “character” is voiced by a member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) which is better than no actors. It still raises a lot of questions on how a project like this could affect the industry.
On Christmas day of 2025, a movie by the name of “Marty Supreme” was released and had many characters played by non-actors like rapper Tyler The Creator and Shark Tank judge Kevin O’Leary. A few months back, while promoting the film, O’Leary said in an interview that it would have saved much more money if they used AI to fill in all of the background extras. Being the billionaire he is, O’Leary was looking at the film from a business perspective. How could he help them make the most money? This is the biggest problem with AI crossing over to art.
From an outside perspective, O’Leary’s comment might make a lot of sense (depending on where you stand with AI) but that is not the case. The Screen Actors Guild is technically a union that thousands of people are a part of. Many of the huge actors you know today had to start somewhere and at one point were at the bottom of the call sheet. Every extra you see in a film needs that role as small as it may seem because even in Hollywood there are still entry-level jobs. If AI were to become a common practice, no one would be able to build out their resume and climb up the call sheet.
And that is just how actors could be affected. So many more roles in the filmmaking process could be wiped out way faster than an actor’s.
Even if AI does take over the film industry, would it even be that good? Could an AI come up with a new way to show how pushing yourself to the limit could destroy your sanity the way Aronofsky did in his film “Black Swan”? Could an AI display the humanity of people with drug addiction the way he did in “Requiem For A Dream”? The answer is no. It could not.
AI can never go forward. It can only take from the past because it is scraping other people’s work from throughout history and making a smorgasbord of nothingness with conflicting viewpoints. The beauty of art is perspective and how we as human beings have shared experiences yet tell it in different ways. It can either allow someone to deeply relate to a subject or become exposed to it. It resonates with us like nothing else can which is something AI will never be able to do.
The artists that remember that are the ones that count. They can move forward.
