Overview
- Viewers flagged two visuals from the Josh O’Connor–hosted episode—storybook-style cold-open illustrations and a Weekend Update casino graphic—as showing common generative hallmarks.
- Social posts on X and Reddit fueled a rapid backlash, with the topic trending and many deriding the imagery as “AI slop” that lands less humorously than SNL’s usual handmade graphics.
- Deadline reported that Hive’s detector assessed the Weekend Update image with a 99.9% probability of being AI-generated, though no official confirmation has been provided.
- Former staff and commentators said such imagery sidelines in-house artists and erodes the show’s intentionally rough visual style that supports its jokes.
- The scrutiny follows the show’s VFX unit winning AI protections in a July union contract, sharpening questions about how SNL is applying generative tools.