Netflix tried to fix 80s sitcom A Different World with AI but it gave us a different nightmare
Netflix upscales A Different World with AI to unpleasant results.
Many sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s evoke warm memories of fuzzy colors on a staticky CRT monitor. So Netflix adding A Different World to its catalog seemed like a call to nostalgia and flip-up glasses, at least until the AI-assisted upscaling appeared on screen.
With this AI enhancement no one asked for, Hillman College sometimes looked like it was a little melted, with off-putting distortions of design all over, and text reworked into what looked like an alien language. Meanwhile, the faces and hands of the cast would occasionally warp like something was crawling underneath their skins.
Admittedly, I had been slightly braced for it after seeing TikTok videos highlighting the warped results of AI's influence on the show. If anything, those videos undersold the results of AI upscaling.
Upscaling is when you take old, low-resolution footage and make it fit modern high-definition screens. When done properly, with computer-assisted artists going through the footage, it can be a subtle but effective way to make classic shows look a little sharper. When done badly, you get what looks like inhuman dentures and throw pillows from another planet. To be fair, Netflix may not be solely to blame. A Different World is owned by Carsey-Werner. But Netflix still puts this uncanny valley exploration on subscribers' screens.
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