Darren Aronofsky's '1776' AI Video Series Is Unhinged, and I Can't Look Away

Commentary: With July 4 upon us and generative AI infiltrating the world of creatives, what are we to make of the increasingly bonkers On This Day...1776? Jon Skillings Editorial director Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services. Expertise AI, tech, language, grammar, writing, editing Credentials 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish). See full bio Jon Skillings July 2, 2026 p. m. PT 8 min read In the On This Day...1776 episode featuring Betsy Ross creating the American flag, we get a moment of Jimi Hendrix playing the Star-Spangled Banner. Primordial Soup via YouTube/Screenshot by CNET I've been low-key obsessed with Darren Aronofsky's AI-drenched video project On This Day…1776 since it landed out of the blue on YouTube in late January. As a narrative, the ongoing series of short videos tracks select events throughout the United States' birth year, when the outcome of the looming revolution was truly precarious. As a Hollywood-adjacent initiative, it's also meant to be a proving ground for what creative professionals might be able to accomplish with generative AI tools that are evolving . Through the first half of 2026, and especially as we've closed in on the country's 250th anniversary on July 4, what has emerged has been an increasingly surreal blend of technical ambition, snapshot patriotism and a penchant for the grotesque. It's that TV show that you're sure is the worst thing ever, but you can't stop hate-watching because you want to weird twist comes next. And some of it is truly bonkers. Produced by Aronofsky's AI-centric Primordial Soup studio and promoted , On This Day…1776 drew a burst of media attention -- and backlash -- with the simultaneous debut of its first two episodes. People hated it simply because it was heavily AI-generated. The flaws in the execution were all too apparent. It was a betrayal of the humanity of Aronofsky's own films. As much as I tried to be open-minded, I couldn't help but sum it up as "a hellish broth of machine-driven AI slop and bad human choices." For a while, it seemed like the criticism had been too much to bear and the project had been shelved.