Jennifer’s act
Fake photos of a real perpetrator: When it comes to true crime, of all things, Netflix secretly uses AI images
Jennifer Pan’s story is retold by Netflix in “Jennifer’s Deed.” However, this photo used in the documentary shows numerous indications that it was created by AI
© Netflix
The fascination of true crime formats depends on their authenticity. The new Netflix documentary “Jennifer’s Tat” now plays that away – by presenting AI images as real.
The fascination with true crime is easy to understand: the documentaries about real ones Crimes bring the horror of everyday life into the safety of your living room – and cause pleasant shivers there. A new Netflix documentary also reopens a terrible murder case. But it is causing discussions above all because it breaks down the boundaries between fact and fiction in a new way – and apparently sells AI photos of the perpetrator as real.
Specifically, “Jennifer’s Act” is about the tragic story of the young Canadian Jennifer Pan, who, under great pressure from her strict parents, builds a double life – and when it is discovered, orders the murder of her parents. Pan has therefore been in prison since 2015. The documentary, which was released on April 10th, is currently the second most watched film on Netflix worldwide, and is also in second place in Germany. It is very close to the story, shows interrogation videos, interviews investigators and friends – and also shows lots of private photos. But not all of them seem to actually exist.
“Jennifer’s Tat” on Netflix: Clear AI clues
This is particularly noticeable in minute 28, as “Futurism” first discovered. Just as a school friend is talking about how authentic Jennifer has always been, a picture of the woman who was later imprisoned is shown, which contains several classic clues that it was created with AI. You can see it at the top of the article.
It starts with the background, in which several strangely distorted, not entirely clearly visible objects fill a dark shelf. But the evidence on Jennifer herself is even clearer – especially her hands. The left hand seems strangely cramped, the index and middle fingers, stretched out in peace signs, seem to have been cut out. On the right hand, the two fingers look more normal – but all the others are simply missing. Everything looks like a lump of flesh put together. Further clues include the bizarrely angled shoulder and Pan’s suddenly very short nose compared to other photos.
Other images also show signs of being AI-generated, although more subtle ones. When asked by the streaming service, the streaming service did not reveal whether Netflix really used AI-generated images and what led to this decision star initially unanswered.
Not the first AI case in series
The use of AI in streaming content is nothing completely new – in the most recent season of “True Detective”, for example, AI posters of fictional bands could be seen on a wall – but its use is particularly questionable in the true crime sector. Ultimately, the genre lives from its documentary character, from the aim of depicting events as close to reality as possible. It’s true that people have been working with recreated scenes there for a long time when there are no real recordings. However, these are usually clearly marked as such. This was not the case with the AI images now used by Netflix.
There is also another layer: After all, Jennifer Pan is a real person, is currently in prison – and had rejected an interview request for the documentary. The fact that images are now being used that are supposed to show them, but were never taken, seems extremely strange.
Sources: Netflix, Futurism, Flix Patrol