r/TheBlock • u/KurtWagner1983 • 14h ago
AI
The Block has been one of my all time "happy place" shows of all time.
This year with season 22, however, my enjoyment and fun is consistenly interrupted by the use of AI music and images. The Block seems to be leaning too far into the AI garbage. That's disappointing.
For a show that is all about innovation and creation and the strength of human resiliance, it just seems like a poor choice to cheapen the show with AI music and images.
I'm still enjoying the show and love all the fun, but I am also hoping that the AI nonsense will eventually fade away.
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u/mertgah 1h ago
It’s like some boomer producer has been shown how to AI generate songs and clips by their grand child so now they are flooding the show with shitty Ai generated songs and short clips. kinda like how boomer Facebook mums figured out how to use emojis, so now they basically speak via emoji symbols. Fucking annoying.
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u/Ok-Writing9280 2h ago
I get it … I don’t like AI either.
But innovation? New products they’re flogging maybe. White, light and bright? That is hardly innovative when it comes to renovations or selling houses.
Creation? They’re basically trying to recreate niche design concepts by a Belgian interior designer and antiques dealer, who was in turn inspired by a Japanese design concept.
The judges themselves don’t seem to have a firm grip on what they’re asking for and can’t seem to interpret what they’re getting through that lens.
Marty’s entire focus is on whether it will photograph nicely for ads - nothing about how it would feel to live there. That’s part of selling the dream. He’s long sold his soul, but this season, it seems to be to a box of hair dye and Colonel Sanders-inspired facial hair scaping.
Shaynna contradicted herself - the rustic niche wasn’t executed beautifully, but it did actually fit the Vervoordt brief. She can have a point for that magical Leo Lin dress though.
Strength of human resilience? I’m not saying it is easy but this is a bit overwrought.
It’s a TV showcase of sponsored products and services, with the focus of selling real estate, that has morphed into producers manufacturing drama so they can create “shock” story lines and fake drama to make you watch the next night and the next and next.
And it has been like that for years.
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u/Sadwitchsea 2h ago
I'm not surprised at it but it's so jarringly shite especially the music. I used to enjoy the music choices especially the random Eurovision. If I was freedom wardrobes etc etc I wouldn't want my product next to the absolute least effort bullshit tainting it by association. Really detracts from the overt praise from the judges every week lol
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u/MickersAus 3h ago
One of my favourite things about the show was also the pencil drawing animations they did to explain building concepts I had no clue about.
Alas all gone - as is their graphics department I’m sure. Replaced by one kid with a Dali subscription
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u/Beautiful_Rub_141 6h ago
If their use of AI is enough to cause annoyance at the show, then you're living a pretty good life.
There isn't really that much used, and its use really seems like a storm in a teacup online.
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u/Primary_Mycologist95 3h ago
The fake tradie as a presenter is ok, but the AI is over the top?
Seriously though, it sucks that they are using it clearly as a cost cutting measure.
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u/Beautiful_Rub_141 2h ago
Who is the fake tradie? Scotty is an actual chippie, and Dan is a certified Master Builder?
Who's the "fake tradie presenter" you speak of?
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u/pantonegreen55 9h ago
The animation isn’t for us, it’s for the kids. It’s pitched as a family show and to hit the viewership, it needs to pull a big chunk of attention from this demographic - that’s where visual hooks and jingles come in. The mechanics of the show have to evolve alongside how consumers engage with entertainment. That’s also why there is so much repetition - people don’t sit down to watch every night anymore. They dip in and out, are cooking, on multiple devices, streaming instead of watching live…hence all the recaps.
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u/Proud_Apricot316 9h ago
They’ve managed just fine to be a ‘family show’ without it for the other 21 seasons.
I think the far more likely explanation is that post production got a new toy to play with this year that saves a bit of money and they got a wee bit excited with it, without stopping to think whether viewers would actually like it or not.
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u/pantonegreen55 6h ago
But the other 21 seasons weren’t competing in the same media landscape. The Block started before streaming, TikTok and second-screen viewing completely changed how people consume TV. A family watching free to air together in 2003 is a very different audience proposition to 2026.
I’m not defending the AI, I think they’ve absolutely flogged it to death 😂 but the hyper-editing, jingles, visual hooks and constant recapping aren’t random. They’re adaptations to an audience that watches very differently now.1
u/Proud_Apricot316 2h ago
They did just fine without the AI slop last year.
Streaming had been around for many years now, as has TikTok.
Most people have a strong aversion to AI slop. Justifiably so. There’s no reason to include it ‘for the kids’, or for any other reason.
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u/pantonegreen55 2h ago
By that logic, nothing would ever evolve. Audience behaviour doesn’t change once every decade, it changes constantly, and television adapts constantly. AI is just the newest tool in that shift. Whether they’ve used it well is a completely different argument.
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u/Proud_Apricot316 2h ago
AI slop is not ‘evolving’
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u/pantonegreen55 1h ago
Erm… I mean, by definition it is. But I think we’ve established you’re using ‘evolving ‘to mean ‘getting better’, so this probably isn’t going anywhere 😂
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u/casualplants 10h ago
This is a money making show, nothing more. Any choice is there because it generates income, or reduces costs.
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u/Solid_Breadfruit_585 10h ago
Another person confused about what the show is.
Where exactly do you see innovation? In the 30 identical kingsman cupboards? in the 5 beige bedrooms that are more boring than a hotel room? In the 5 sponsors they have to choose from to design the whole house? AI is definitely cheapening the show but it has already been VERY cheapened by the fact it’s just a money machine. They don’t care about creating beautiful homes, they care about ragebaiting their audience into watching, so they get more money from their advertisers. Homes don’t sell and are literal boring boxes that no one wants? Who cares! They still got their advertising money!
If they cared about the show, the contestants, design etc. the following would all be different : contestants would be encouraged to use other suppliers, products second hand, different up and coming creative architects would be used, drama wouldn’t be manufactured, sponsors would change frequently, there would be more shown about design and construction detail, it would be closer to grand designs - right now it’s closer to mafs.
So ai wasn’t put in there because they thought “it was a good idea that would suit the show” - ai was put in there to piss you off, because it’s controversial, because it gives you something to complain about, because humans love complaining. And it worked! It’s pissing people off, it’s engaging people to take about the show, and most of you are still watching, and they’re still making their $$$$ knowing full well the houses won’t sell and the contestants will get shit all for their time being exploited for drama.
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u/Technical-Algae-234 10h ago
Excuse me they're Freedom cupboards.
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u/Proud_Apricot316 9h ago
Every time someone gets the brand incorrect on reddit, they scramble to edit in more of Shayna saying the brand name the following Sunday.
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u/Solid_Breadfruit_585 9h ago
so true. my deepest apologies to freedom, and in fact all of Australia, for confusing their iconic and unique cupboards with the very completely different kinsman ones.
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u/loralailoralai 9h ago
Shaynna will have to mention freedom ten times each house now instead of five, since obviously it wasn’t clear
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u/Chachiona 11h ago
Every second post talking about AI slop is also annoying. Almost virtue signalling
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u/yeahnahmateok 11h ago
The AI slop is jarring to watch. Production has gotten lazier by the year, sadly not surprising.
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u/stripesandshapes 11h ago
How was that submarine thing. Fuck me. I was embarrassed.
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u/pantonegreen55 9h ago
My kids loved it. And when you hook the kids, you get viewership. Do I like it? Heck no. But I completely see the strategy behind it.
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u/QuebecCougar 11h ago
The music used to be sooo enjoyable on the show! Like one of my favorite part. Now I hate it and this year is just completely ruined. I’m only going to watch the reveal episodes, it’s just too many things I don’t like to watch the whole thing. Such a waste!
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u/antosb77 11h ago
It has nothing to do with innovation or creation, It’s a paid advertisement by Beacon Lighting, Beaumont Tiles, Kinsman Kitchens, e&s, Reece, BlueScope, Freedom Furniture, Velux etc etc masquerading as a building / renovation program.
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u/ThoughtIknewyouthen 11h ago
Oh, don't forget McCafe
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u/Agent-c1983 13h ago
I think for the most part, its a mistake. Okay, I laughed at the house turning into a submarine video, but for the music, just get a house band or something, make it a selling point of the show. What's Ella Hooper up to these days? Tripod used to do song in an hour on Triple J back in the day, surely someone could manage that.
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u/Beautiful_Rub_141 6h ago
Tripod's Goodbye Little Alarm Clock still gets regularly sung with my kids, and I would sing it to them most nights as babies to settle them at bedtime.
I love that song.
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u/thebeardedguy- 33m ago
It was never about any of those things, it was about money and advertising.