True Detective: Night County in AI Controversy

Episode two of True Detective: Night County is proving surprisingly controversial.

It’s not the grisly sight of naked frozen bodies that viewers are objecting to, or even Jodie Foster’s steamy romp with Christopher Eccleston, but an apparent use of AI.

In one scene involving Kali Reis’ trooper Evangeline Navarro investigating a man’s home, we see strange music posters in the background that seem AI-generated.

One simply gives the name of the band as 'Metal,' with the featured artist looking like a wonky cross between Kiss and Metallica if viewed from the bottom of a swimming pool.

Another poster shows an all-female group with weirdly jointed arms and an indistinguishable logo that seems written in an alien language. It’s the sort of not-quite-right imagery associated with shoddy AI generation.

“I have to say, massive downer to use AI in a True Detective season to print out posters,” writes Twitter poster @ExileGrimm, “especially because any show like this is going to have everyone combing over every piece of set design to look for clues.”

Related: True Detective: Night County Easter Eggs

@tattersquid writes, “It looks like a damn Netflix show. It looks cheap and slapped together and it's lit like garbage.”

Maybe it will turn out to be an important clue in Jodie Foster’s murder investigation - could she be about to crack the case of the mysterious AI-generated music posters?

Apart from that, critics are loving the latest season. Check out our True Detective: Night County review roundup.