Netflix’s new docuseries Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam explores the career of Lou Pearlman, King of the boy band, and his infamous enterprise of lies. Though fans have been captivated by the series’ retelling of this tale of boy band glamor mixed with crime, they’ve equally been disturbed by the series’ use of AI to depict the late Pearlman.
Dirty Pop follows Lou Pearlman, a notorious pop-music icon who’s responsible for culturally redefining the musical landscape in the late 90s and early 2000s with his creation of the boy band. Pearlman put pop groups like NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys on the map, creating a legacy that has lived on since his death in 2016. However, his empire is not without fault, as the series exposes Pearlman as a notorious conman to viewers unfamiliar with the story, who’s Ponzi-scheme is believed to be the longest in history.
AI is a rising source of fear in today’s media landscape, as its use creates concern over its potential to be used to manipulate viewers and create false narratives. As well, it can simply be disturbing to viewers. As in “Dirty Pop” artificial intelligence is used to recreate the voice and image of Pearlman as he recites passages from his book “Bands, Brands, & Billions.”
Netflix discloses the use of AI at the start of the series, noting that the original interview footage “has been digitally altered to generate his voice and synchronize his lips.” Though the words that AI Pearlman says can truthfully be attributed to him, the icon was unable to give Netflix consent to digitally alter his face post-mortem.
Fans of the series have criticized Netflix’s decision to use AI, questioning the platform’s need to use AI rather than having another voice narrate the book’s passages. Netflix has previously been faced with criticism for using AI-generated images for its true crime series What Jennifer Did without disclosing the use of AI to viewers.
Fans have added that this use of AI in the series is unnecessary, and another method would have been sufficient to capture the essence of Pearlman. Representatives from Netflix have defended its choice to use AI in the series, calling it an “additive storytelling tool.”
As fears continue to rise about the use of AI in media, should platforms like Netflix be able to use AI, especially when recounting true stories? At the very least, it may become necessary for media platforms to disclose their use of AI so audiences know whether something is real or fake. However, is that enough to ensure that audiences are viewing content that has not been negatively digitally altered?
Fans have debated these questions since the series release, and time will tell whether Netflix continues to use AI in their series, and if other platforms will follow the trend. For now, viewers are left with the uncomfortable feeling that the content they watch could be falsified with this new technology, without a real way to verify whether the media they consume every day is real or fake.
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