Netflix Labeled 'Reckless' & 'Irresponsible' After Alleged AI Image Use In 'What Jennifer Did'

Netflix is being accused of using AI-generated photos in its new documentary, 'What Jennifer Did,' to present Jennifer Pan as happy.

The new true-crime documentary tells the story of Jennifer Pan and her conspiring with her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Wong, to hire a hitman who murdered her mother, Bich Ha Pan, and left her father, Huei Hann Pan, severely injured.

The 24-year-old Vietnamese Canadian woman claims that she faced high expectations from her parents, such as what they wanted her to do as a career, which ultimately led to her conspiring to hire the hitman to kill them.

The major players involved in the crime are currently serving life in prison.

The true crime doc immediately hit Netflix's top 10 movies in the U.S. However, it has faced accusations of using artificial intelligence to alter photos of Jennifer to make her look happy.

The streaming service utilized photos of Jennifer Pan to showcase her "bubbly, happy, confident, and very genuine" personality, something her high school friend Nam Nguyen described her as.

Many have noticed some discrepancies, including with Jennifer's hand, after closer examination of the photos in the documentary.

For example, in one of the photos shown in the Netflix feature, Jennifer appears to have only two fingers on her left hand; she is missing a thumb, a pinky finger, and a ring finger. Her right hand also has inconsistencies with a standard hand, as it appears to be missing a pinky finger, and her thumb appears abnormally large and disjointed.

Netflix has yet to comment on the accusations.

“Resorting to the tech to generate pictures of a real person, especially of somebody who’s still in jail and will only be eligible for parole around 2040, should raise some alarm bells,” Futurism shared.

After these allegations surfaced, viewers flooded social media, expressing their frustrations with the streaming service.

"Netflix using generative AI images in a true crime doc is extremely irresponsible and exactly what archivists are telling documentaries not to do," one X user wrote.

"Finding and using archival photos/footage is one of the most important and hardest things to do when making a documentary," another wrote, adding, "'What Jennifer Did' seemingly created or altered images using AI, which creates a false historical record."

A third wrote, "Now we’re learning things were AI generated [in 'What Jennifer Did'] is crazy."

The reactions didn't stop there, as one X user expressed, "I already thought 'What Jennifer Did' was a bad documentary before I knew about the AI use. The documentary's conclusion that she did it for a boy was absolutely disgusting and misogynistic."

"Netflix using AI for this documentary called 'What Jennifer Did' is so reckless," another said. "Wtf is wrong with these streaming services? There are so many talented journalists, graphic designers, producers, etc. Why not use A HUMAN to get this right?"

Another wrote, "'What Jennifer Did' doesn't disclose its AI images, which is unforgivable, especially in the true-crime space. If we can't trust Jennifer, the cops, or the documentarian, then what's left?"

In November 2010, three men entered Jennifer's home, where she lived with her parents, and shot them both multiple times, killing her mother and severely wounding her father. Pan called 911 claiming she was tied to a banister, and she did not know who the men were that entered the home.

After her father came out of a coma, he claimed he saw his daughter walking with one of the gunmen after he and his wife were shot. Then, thanks to a series of texts and phone calls, police later found that Pan hired the hitmen to kill her parents for $10,000.

In 2015, Jennifer Pan was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years for the first-degree murder of her mother and attempted murder of her father. She was 28 at the time of sentencing.

'What Jennifer Did' is currently available to stream on Netflix.