I Gazed Into the Abyss of Roku’s New Slop Channel and Regret Everything

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According to Roku, the future of entertainment is nonstop A.I. slop, churned out by absolute randos, playing 24/7. Welcome to its new “AI Creator TV” channel, now available on the app’s streaming service and consisting exclusively of app-generated films and shows, along with commercials that feature “synthetic performers.” The uncanny valley is live for consumption, for free, at No. 300 on the Roku Channel’s Live TV Guide.

To replicate the worst of the slop saturation afflicting YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram—sorry, “ Instagzam ”—is one thing, but what’s more unusual is that Roku sells this first-of-its-kind channel as an affirmation of human artists, a way to welcome more digital creators onto its network. The content here, featured as just one part of the Roku Channel’s voluminous FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) lineup, comes from Fairground , a year-old studio that distributes works from A.I. slop churners who have signed with particular studios or registered for Fairground’s in-house competitions. (The logo highlights the ai in Fairground , in case you somehow missed the point.) AI Creator TV, launched on Roku and a few other FAST providers earlier this month, claims to spotlight “over 100 of the best AI filmmakers from around the world.” In interviews, Fairground CEO Colin Petrie-Norris has promised that “ we’re looking for high-quality entertainment ” and that the channel will exhibit “ gorgeous things ,” selected by Fairground staff, that otherwise haven’t found traction because of “gatekeepers and things.”

I watched a bunch of Fairground’s AI Creator TV output over this past week to see what “high-quality entertainment” it had to offer. Having now assaulted my brain with hours of robotic narration tracks, disconcerting animation montages, and “documentaries” that couldn’t pass for the real thing if they tried, I am left desperately hoping that future A.I.-creation enterprises will employ more “gatekeepers and things”—if only for the sheer sake of taste.

One thing you have to understand about the channel’s selections up front: Few of them are “original” stories in any regard. Petrie-Morris announced that Fairground’s first products would riff on beloved public domain characters—Robin Hood, etc.—and then hopefully earn access to established IP through studio partnerships. AI Creator TV regularly broadcasts a series titled Reimagined , which showcases how A.I. enthusiasts (and the models they deploy) envision fictional protagonists such as Cinderella and Sherlock Holmes, among many others. There’s “Dracula Meets the Walkers,” a short from YouTuber DJ Marcelll that sends the famed vampire to live with a family of zombies in a modern-sitcom setting, replete with hacky jokes (“warm glass of plasma?”) and visual gags involving kids with their dang selfies and smartphones.