Engineer With Doctorate In Computer Vision Creates AI To Race-swap 'The Little Mermaid' Upon Release, Fueling Further Controversy Around The Remake

Last Friday, the Disney YouTube channel uploaded the first teaser trailer for its remake of The Little Mermaid, featuring Halle Bailey as Ariel. Following the controversy and debate that's swirled around the film for over a year between supporters and detractors of the casting decision, one man attempted to nullify the contention, which wound up only further fueling the flame war.

Three days since the trailer dropped, the Islamic meme maker Dr. Walid Ph.D., also known as @TenGazillionIQ on Twitter, posted a short video showing three seconds of the trailer with an AI recreation that made Bailey's Ariel appear to be a white ginger side-by-side with the original and the claim that his AI could do it for the entire movie upon release in 24 hours.

This video and the claim naturally evoked an intense response on Twitter, with many of the original threads being deleted within hours despite several still being active.

🎶"Wish I could be part of that AI"🎶 pic.twitter.com/C1V8xogBgq

— Seraphim Rising (@OccupyWpg) September 12, 2022

I hope someone reposts the entire clip of AI white Ariel. That’s hilarious. #TheLittleMermaid pic.twitter.com/e0OXAukAzr

— Yalda Boath (@Yalda_Boath) September 13, 2022

Gotta be honest, I figured our dystopian future would include horrors like deepfake revenge porn and AI bot catfishing, but I was not expecting "using AI to whitewash diverse movie characters."

I regret the error and I promise to be even more pessimistic going forward. pic.twitter.com/2cZi1fBfaB

— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) September 13, 2022

As expected, the concept of race-swapping the live-action Ariel depiction was not warmly received by many, and it was swiftly attacked online, as well by people who were making memes of the movie following the trailer.

As a continuation of the original controversy that started with the movie casting choice back in July 2019, more memes that perpetuated racial stereotypes but through the lens of Ariel and The Little Mermaid were posted, and this AI was considered to be the final extension of this thought process by some, with many calling the execution and AI as a whole racially divisive.

There is no “deeper meaning” or misunderstanding as to why people hate Halle Bailey’s Ariel, whitewash her with AI, and dislike the trailer 7x the amount of likes. It’s just racism. It’s a constant in online fan communities. The people being racist know what they’re doing and why

— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) September 13, 2022

We teach about the inherent bias of AI and data sets in our Cyberlaw seminar but this is just intentional racism to remove a black actress because people are angry Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) September 13, 2022

That weird, racist account that was promoting the "my AI made Ariel white again" flex got suspended. pic.twitter.com/AxSaSIyCFw

— Tomes of the Untold (@Untold_Tomes) September 13, 2022

During the social media fallout and in-fighting, there was one Twitter user who perhaps saw a potential use for such technology. While it's apparent that AI in this instance is being used in a controversial manner, the further advancement of the technology was prospective to some for future creative endeavors, especially memes.

Using AI to turn Ariel white is racist and bad, obviously, but the technological advancement brings me closer to my dream cut of 12 Angry Men where every actor is Danny DeVito so I'm not sure how to feel

— RednBlackSalamander (@9mmballpoint) September 13, 2022