{"id":560675,"date":"2026-08-06T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/560675\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:00:18","slug":"ice-cream-man-ai-use-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/560675\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Ice Cream Man&#8221; AI Use Sparks Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ice-cream-man-ai-use-sparks-controversy.jpg\" data-caption=\"Iconic Events Releasing\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ice-cream-man-ai-use-sparks-controversy.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"ice-cream-man-ai-use-sparks-controversy\"\/><\/a>Iconic Events Releasing<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHostel\u201d and \u201cCabin Fever\u201d filmmaker Eli Roth\u2019s new horror tale \u201cIce Cream Man\u201d has become the subject of controversy in the last day or so as reviews for the title have emerged.<\/p>\n<p>The $5.5 million-budgeted horror film follows an ice cream truck driver (Ari Millen) whose frozen treats turn the children of an idyllic summer town into homicidal maniacs. Reviews haven\u2019t been good (though not disastrous), the title sitting at 33% (4.3\/10) on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/ice_cream_man_2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> and a 41\/100 on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/movie\/ice-cream-man\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Metacritic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s the inclusion of AI visual effects company Dark Half in its credits that has led people online to wonder how much of the film was created using generative AI.<\/p>\n<p>Part of it ties to a Fleischer Studios-esque cartoon seen in the film that children get on their phones, the clip hypnotising them into becoming killers.<\/p>\n<p>Roth previously told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/eli-roth-ice-cream-man-generative-ai-confirmed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Polygon<\/a> he had drawn the clip himself \u2013 drawing 1920s haunted Mickey Mouse cartoons-esque frames which he then handed to animators to \u201chelp kind of make it a little more fluid\u201d and an artist \u201cto give it a bit of an old-timey jittery feel\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The outlet then followed up about the film\u2019s use of AI with Roth issuing a statement: \u201cI misspoke. AI was used in a very small portion of a few scenes in the film. It was an opportunity where technology and creativity came together to help bring my vision for the film to life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roth reportedly didn\u2019t specify which scenes used generative AI or how the technology was incorporated, saying only it was limited to \u201ca very small portion of a few scenes\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The comments follow in the wake of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/movies\/comments\/1vf1gc8\/is_ice_cream_man_really_full_of_genai\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a> thread claiming the film used generative AI throughout.  The film is neither the first, or last, to be subjected to intense online scrutiny over its AI use.<\/p>\n<p>Previous article<a href=\"https:\/\/www.darkhorizons.com\/paramount-warners-antitrust-trial-set-for-march\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Paramount-Warners Antitrust Trial Set For March<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next article<a href=\"https:\/\/www.darkhorizons.com\/trailer-x-files-i-want-to-believe-directors-cut\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Trailer: \u201cX-Files: I Want to Believe\u201d Director\u2019s Cut<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iconic Events Releasing \u201cHostel\u201d and \u201cCabin Fever\u201d filmmaker Eli Roth\u2019s new horror tale \u201cIce Cream Man\u201d has become&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,84767,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-560675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-bigslider","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}