Darren Aronofsky, TIME and DeepMind launch AI-driven Revolutionary War series

Acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky is executive producing a new short-form streaming series that uses AI to recreate scenes from the Revolutionary War, according to THR. The series, called On This Day… 1776, is being produced with TIME magazine and Google DeepMind for TIME's YouTube channel.

On This Day… 1776 will focus on pivotal dates from 1776 and release episodes on the 250th anniversary of each episode’s subject. The first two episodes debut this Thursday, spotlighting George Washington raising the Continental Union Flag and Benjamin Franklin's questioning upon Thomas Paine's arrival.

The show will use SAG actors to narrate while visuals are crafted using AI; the creators described the setup as a "combination of traditional filmmaking tools and emerging AI capabilities." Aronofsky is producing through Primordial Soup, an AI-focused venture backed by the director.

The series arrives amid a larger debate over AI in Hollywood. The article notes some filmmakers embrace the technology, while others see it as a betrayal because AI is trained on other people's work. The piece references SAG-AFTRA concerns, recent strikes and negotiations, and a high-profile campaign backed by Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett.

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