The Kardashian family is back in familiar territory: facing backlash for their season premiere of The Kardashians on Hulu. Season 8 started with a introduction that featured AI-generated versions of the famous family members. With obvious unnatural facial features, glitches, and distortions, it wasn’t hard to identify the usage of AI—which was the whole point, as Kim declares at the end of the intro: “We don’t need AI when we have this reality.” Keep reading for more information.
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‘Kardashians’ Season 8 Debuts AI Intro
The introduction scene featured several very obvious uses of AI, with Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kenall Jenner, and Kylie Jenner all appearing in a series of glamorous locations, including a yacht in St. Tropez, a safari in Kenya, and a ski chalet in Switzerland. They each had noticeably unnatural facial features and movements, plus glitches like Khloé’s eye growing into an oversized shape, Kylie growing a tail, and Kourtney’s face transforming into a fingernail.
However, the bizarre intro was actually intended to make a point about how the Kardashians don’t use AI. Following the glitches, the real Kardashians appear and confront the AI versions of themselves. When the AI version of Kris argues that AI is easier to work with because it doesn’t have scheduling conflicts or need glam, the real Kris insists that her family cannot be replaced.
“We don’t need AI when we have this reality,” Kim agrees. Then Khloé shuts down the AI versions of the family members while Kourtney delivers the final message: “AI could never replace us.”
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Social Media Reactions
Across social media platforms, most users were not impressed by the usage of AI in the introduction to the new season. “I think this missed the mark, unfortunately,” one person wrote on Instargam.
“This was a really hard watch,” agreed another.
“This isn’t cute or clever,” wrote the next.
“This is literally so weird,” said another.
“The Kardashians doing what they do best: keeping people talking about them,” pointed out another user.
“But like why the AI intro?” asked one person. “So unnecessary. We’re tuned it, i’d rather not have all those resources wasted for the weirdest thing.”
“Please don’t do this again,” a final user wrote. “The AI was horrible and creepy.”
