The British public broadcaster aired a Question Time segment featuring AI-generated historical figures
Published 29 May, 2026 22:28
| Updated 30 May, 2026 05:27
A screenshot from the BBC’s Question Time showing an AI-generated Winston Churchill, taken on May 29, 2026. © BBC
The BBC has been accused of producing “AI slop” after an episode of Question Time featured AI-generated versions of World War II-era British leader Winston Churchill and Indian independence activist Mahatma Gandhi.
The episode, which aired on Thursday, opened with host Fiona Bruce introducing AI-generated versions of Churchill and Gandhi, as well as women’s suffrage campaigner Emmeline Pankhurst and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
“That would be something, wouldn’t it, if they really were on our panel. Of course they’re not. They are AI-generated. Just a small insight into the use of technology,” Bruce said before introducing the actual panelists for a discussion on the rapid rise of AI.
Tonight Question Time features an imagined AI panel made up of historical figures who shaped the modern world
Watch the #bbcqt AI special now on @BBCiPlayer and @BBCNews to see what our REAL panel have to say on AI, including how it can blur the lines between reality and fakery pic.twitter.com/G1HVSUyt5t
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) May 28, 2026
The segment was widely mocked online, with some users calling it “AI slop.”
“Your funding should be cut just based on this,” one user wrote on X, calling the BBC staff involved “a plague to the film-making and television industry.”
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“Genuinely a joke that I am forced to pay a fee for this dross,” another user wrote.
The British broadcaster, which is largely funded through license fees paid by the public, is reportedly losing around $1.36 billion annually as audiences increasingly turn to streaming platforms and other formats.
According to The Guardian, at least 314,000 households stopped paying the license fee last year. The BBC announced a 10% budget cut in February amid mounting controversies over its reporting and declining license-fee revenue.