The potential of generative AI is limitless, but the technology still has a long way to go. If you’re hunting for proof, look no further than A Different World, NBC’s spinoff of The Cosby Show that recently joined the Netflix library. As spotted by developer Scott Hanselman on TikTok last week (via Futurism), Netflix seems to have used AI to upscale the 1980s sitcom, and while the image is certainly sharper, there are some serious drawbacks as well.
If you’ve ever watched an older TV show on a 65-inch 4K TV, you know how rough it can look. After all, these shows were meant to be watched on small CRT TVs, not your home theater. By upscaling the image, it’s theoretically possible to freshen up the show for modern displays, but the AI has to be capable of preserving the content of the shot.
As you can see in Hanselman’s video below, the AI didn’t exactly do a great job:
The AI upscaling is present in every episode of the show, and as a result, every shot oscillates between slightly off and wildly off. Teeth vanish into mouths, text becomes garbled hieroglyphs, and faces morph into unsettling surrealist art. It’s pure nightmare fuel.
“So here’s the problem,” Hanselman says. “From far away, it looks amazing, and you now have a 4K, remastered version of A Different World, which I think we can all agree would be amazing. The problem is AI upscaling image technology isn’t quite there yet. So what you end up with is an uncanny valley awkward place where they’re interpolating pixels, interpolating frames, and I don’t know how I feel about it.”
Here’s a prime example of just how bad it can look, as captured by Futurism:
As Hanselman concludes, if streamers are going to allow AI-upscaled content on their services, there needs to be a note somewhere indicating the change. If Netflix is going to force-feed us AI slop, there should also be an option to watch the original version.
