Darren Aronofsky And Google DeepMind Reimagine 1776 With AI

As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a new animated series is bringing the drama, uncertainty, and hope of 1776 to screens in a way never seen before. Executive produced by acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, On This Day… 1776 is an ambitious, AI-assisted project that aims to reframe the American Revolution as a fragile experiment shaped by the people who risked everything to make it real. The series, produced by Aronofsky’s AI studio Primordial Soup in partnership with Google DeepMind and distributed by TIME Studios, is rolling out weekly on TIME’s YouTube channel throughout 2026, with each episode timed to the 250th anniversary of the historic events it depicts.

The project’s timing is no accident. With the nation’s semiquincentennial looming in July 2026, On This Day… 1776 is part of a wave of commemorations, but it stands out for its blend of cutting-edge technology and traditional storytelling craft. According to Variety, the series uses a combination of traditional filmmaking tools and emerging AI capabilities, including technology from Google DeepMind. Artists employ generative AI to animate scenes, while a global team of writers, designers, and AI specialists collaborated via Salesforce’s Slack platform. The production is supported by Salesforce, whose co-founder Marc Benioff owns TIME magazine.

Despite the AI-driven visuals, the voices in On This Day… 1776 are provided by real, unionized actors. SAG-AFTRA members were tapped for the roles, a detail that’s especially significant as the union prepares for new contract negotiations with Hollywood studios. The writers’ room is led by Lucas Sussman, and the series features an original score by Jordan Dykstra. Aronofsky, known for films like Black Swan, The Whale, and Mother!, brings his signature blend of artistry and experimentation to the project as executive producer.

Each episode of On This Day… 1776 dramatizes a different moment from the Revolutionary War, recreating scenes on their 250th anniversaries. The first episode, "January 1: The Flag," shows George Washington raising the Grand Union Flag on Prospect Hill—a moment of symbolic unity for the disparate colonies. As TIME describes, Washington asks the colonial irregulars to shout their home states, with "Delaware!" ringing out in defiant pride. The second episode, "January 10: Common Sense," depicts Thomas Paine’s arrival from England and Benjamin Franklin encouraging him to write the pamphlet that would electrify the colonies. As the episode’s Franklin says, “Here in America, the law is king.”

The creators are clear about their intentions. As reported by Deadline and echoed by MovieWeb, their goal is to present the Revolution not as a foregone conclusion, but as a precarious, living experiment. “This project is a glimpse at what thoughtful, creative, artist-led use of AI can look like – not replacing craft, but expanding what’s possible and allowing storytellers to go places they simply couldn’t before,” said Ben Bitonti, president of TIME Studios, in a statement.

But not everyone is convinced. The series has sparked sharp criticism from some quarters, particularly over its use of AI-generated visuals. Kotaku published a scathing review, calling On This Day… 1776 a “test of whether the guiding hand of one of Hollywood’s biggest auteurs can bend an ugly and fiddly plagiarism machine to his own creative ends and produce something that doesn’t make you want to hurl.” The review points to visual glitches—melting faces, nonsensical background details, and lip-sync issues—as evidence that AI still has a long way to go before it can match the nuance of human performance. “No one can look at this and think it’s better than putting two real actors in chairs,” wrote one online commenter, while another described it as “the most unnatural thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Critics also note the “slop sensibility” of early AI-generated media, with the series compared to an educational reenactment a tired teacher might show in class. The camera work, voice modulation, and editing are described as awkward or even frantic at times. Yet, the show’s defenders argue that these are growing pains of an emerging technology, and that the core storytelling remains compelling. As TIME puts it, the series seeks to make the Revolution “feel like something that’s actually alive,” using AI to generate vibrant, richly textured visuals that move beyond the sepia tones and static costume dramas of past historical retellings.

The debate around On This Day… 1776 is emblematic of a broader conversation in Hollywood and beyond. The rise of AI in entertainment has sparked both excitement and anxiety. While some, like Aronofsky, see AI as a tool to expand creative horizons, others fear it could undermine the craft and livelihoods of human artists. The controversy around AI-generated "actors" such as Tilly Norwood—who recently landed an agent and sought projects—has only intensified these concerns. As MovieWeb notes, the industry is grappling with questions of authorship, originality, and what it means to make art in the age of machines. Even as AI opens new possibilities, its limitations and ethical challenges are front and center.

Despite the criticism, the team behind On This Day… 1776 remains focused on the series’ mission: to reframe the American Revolution as a living, breathing story of risk, uncertainty, and hope. The project’s global, collaborative approach—melding human creativity with AI’s computational power—offers a glimpse of what the future of storytelling might look like, for better or worse. As the United States marks a quarter-millennium since its founding, On This Day… 1776 invites viewers to reconsider the past not as a static myth, but as a dynamic experiment—a story still being told, and still open to interpretation.

With new episodes dropping weekly throughout 2026, each tied to the anniversary of a pivotal Revolutionary moment, the series promises to keep stirring debate and curiosity. Whether audiences ultimately embrace or reject this AI-assisted vision of history, one thing is certain: On This Day… 1776 has ensured that the conversation about how we remember—and how we imagine—the American Revolution is far from over.