The blatant, and increased, use of gen-AI in variety shows this year is just so disappointing, especially with the big ones like Keep Running and Hello Saturday.
If you can afford to have mega-set designs and multiple high-quality costumes/outfits for a single 2-hour episode, then you can afford to hire artist to make visuals assets.
Because what is this???
[Keep Running S14: 2026 EP 7]
^A blatant tell is the way the weird pausing between the scenes since the 1 scene, as created with gen-AI, usually end in a static image which they then have to put back into whatever prompt they used to "animate" it, like the book, the blacksmiths, and the pot. They just use transitions like dissolve to make it coherent but it's blaringly obvious if the art style wasn't already a tell. (This is literally the intro.)
[Keep Running S14: 2026 EP 5]
^Then this is a game where they used gen-AI to make the assets.
[Keep Running S14: 2026 EP 4 - AD Slot]
^Again, a weird tell is that there is an awkward "pause" which they try to cover with a dissolve or cut transitions but it's so blatantly obvious.
It's just so disappointing because they do have artist. Like whenever they explain they game, they use hand-drawn assets (posted below) and it just shows that they can but are choosing not to. Like the hand-drawn graphics are so cute and are pleasing to look at.
[Keep Running S14: 2026 EP 7 - Graphics Explaining the Rules]
This needs to be a whole rant but it's just super disappointing for a show that has now successfully reached 14 seasons. They were able to make a successful show without the use of gen-AI (which didn't exist then) which has been running for 14 seasons and are now cheap-ing out on graphics.