According to a new report, those infamous fake quotes in the Megalopolis trailer were AI-generated. On Wednesday, Lionsgate and Francis Ford Coppola looked to make a big splash with the newest Megalopolis trailer that showcased many negative reviews for the director’s past films, like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The aim of these quotes was supposed to show how the director has always been ahead of his time. Within hours, it was reported that the negative reviews in the trailer were fake, with many of them being nowhere in the reviews of the authors credited. Lionsgate quickly pulled the trailer for Megalopolis and issued an apology.

The story has now continued to develop as, according to Variety, the fake negative reviews were, in fact, AI-generated. Lionsgate and independent marketing consultant Eddie Egan intended for the trailer to demonstrate that some of Coppola’s best work had been met with criticism to generate interest in Megalopolis following a negative reaction to the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It appears that the intention was to fabricate the quotes, but the fact that real critics’ names were used led to the inexcusable error. Variety also prompted the AI service ChatGPT to provide negative criticism of Coppola’s films from well-known critics and cross-referenced the results, which showed it pulled similar quotes included in the trailer. Lionsgate has since parted ways with Eddie Egan.

Another Mistake For AI

Megalopolis is the latest in a series of headlines focused on the controversy around the use of AI in movies and TV. While the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes made a major point in fighting against studios using generative AI, studios have been implementing it in other subtle ways. Marvel Studios came under a great deal of criticism for the opening titles of Secret Invasion using AI art. 2024 has seen multiple projects being called out for using AI-generated material. This included Late Night with the Devil, which used AI artwork in the film. Then, A24’s Civil War used AI-generated posters, which came under fire both for the use of the technology and for falsely selling the movie. The Netflix documentary film What Jennifer Did was also said to have used AI-generated photos of a person.

With Megalopolis, the use of AI-generated fake reviews was incredibly sloppy. While it would have been easy enough to employ someone to spend a few hours trawling through the archives to find interesting quotes to market the movie, the decision was made to take the easy route. The problem is that AI isn’t quite as clever as some believe, and, more often than not, the technology can make some simple, but costly mistakes. However, many studios still seem to be willing to accept the risk. With Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos seemingly not bothered by the technology at all, saying, “Audiences don’t care if something is AI generated,” this seems to be a sad reality that artists and audiences will need to continue to fight.