Don’t watch this new free Roku channel ‣ Diverse Daily

If there’s one thing you can expect Roku to do at least once every month, it’s add new free channels to its already massive lineup of more than 500 free live TV channels on The Roku Channel. In the past few months alone, Roku has added more than 70 new channels, covering everything from popular TV shows and movies to documentaries, sports, and news. But with its latest wave of free channels, Roku has added a channel unlike any it’s ever added before, and, to be blunt, it’s pretty painful to watch.

As spotted by Cord Cutter News, Roku recently added a new free channel called “Fairground AI,” and, as you might be able to tell from the name, it’s focused entirely on showcasing AI-generated content.

That means when you tune in to Fairground AI on your Roku, you’re instantly met with a never-ending stream of AI slop playing 24/7. And it doesn’t stop there. Of course, since it’s a free channel, it’s frequently playing ads, and even those are entirely AI-generated.

Is anyone actually asking for this?

AI-generated content looks even worse on the big screen than on my phone

Roku Channel on a TV in front of Roku City.

Roku users on social media were quick to poke fun at the new channel, with one user posting, “The future of entertainment is here,” alongside a clip of an AI-generated medieval drama featured on the channel. Not only does it look incredibly unnatural, with bizarre physics and awkward cuts, but the acting and dialogue are painfully wooden, too. One user on X mocked the clip, saying it’s a “Shame they didn’t use the ‘with good acting’ prompt” when generating it.

You can catch a glimpse of the kind of content Fairground AI has to offer below. But fair warning: it’s not exactly pleasant viewing.

If you’re wondering exactly where Fairground AI came from, Variety reports that the channel was created by Colin Petrie-Norris, the founder of the streaming service Xumo. According to Fairground’s website, the company is “devoted to AI cinema” and features “over 100 of the best AI filmmakers from around the world.”

Essentially, Fairground lets users submit their AI-generated shows or movies to the platform, which then helps them “put their work on the biggest screen in the home” through its FAST channel and gives them a share of the ad revenue generated by those works.

Speaking to Variety, Petrie-Norris said that Fairground is different from the AI content you might typically see on social media because it’s more focused on storytelling, and that the channel will showcase “gorgeous things.” So far, based on what’s been shared on social media from its Roku channel and what you can watch on the Fairground website, that doesn’t exactly seem to be the case.

Given that Roku is one of the largest streaming platforms in the US, it’s not entirely surprising to see a channel like this end up on it, and it could be a sign of what’s to come. Petrie-Norris says Fairground AI will launch on more FAST platforms, although it’s unclear which ones beyond Roku.

Exactly who is asking for this type of thing, I’m not sure. Personally, though, I’ll be sticking to watching free channels that feature content that’s actually been passionately created by human artists, not AI.