Saturday Night Live appears to have used AI-generated imagery during Saturday’s Josh O’Connor–hosted episode, prompting a swift backlash from viewers who objected to the technology’s presence on a show long associated with top-tier television craftsmanship.
SNL has not confirmed the use of generative AI, but imagery used in two different segments of the show has drawn scrutiny for having visual hallmarks commonly associated with the technology: a Weekend Update over-the-shoulder graphic depicting an older woman using an oxygen tank at a casino (above), and a series of illustrated visuals used at the top of the episode’s cold open (below).
The illustrations used at the top of SNL's cold open this week are also drawing scrutiny for having visual hallmarks of generative AI. pic.twitter.com/RgjZ378bi5
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) December 15, 2025
Viewers quickly took to social media to call out the images. By Sunday afternoon, more than 1,200 posts on X.com were tied to the topic, which was trending on the platform.
Much of the criticism focused less on the idea of experimentation and more on how the imagery looked—and what it replaced. In a post viewed more than 355,000 times, journalist Josh Billinson argued that the use of AI undercut the show’s comedy rather than enhancing it.
“A lot of reasons why SNL using AI for stuff like this sucks,” Billinson wrote, “but my main gripe is just that it’s less funny! The intentionally kind of janky photoshops are part of the joke and beat the weird smooth AI aesthetic.”
Others were more blunt. The That Week in SNL podcast wrote, “Yeah, get the f*ck outta here with that sh*t right now,” in a post that drew more than 800,000 views.
The criticism also extended to former show staff. On Bluesky, former SNL writer Billy Domineau pointed to the show’s long reliance on in-house artists, arguing that generative imagery runs counter to how the show has historically created its visuals.
“At SNL I worked with artists who made the funniest, stupidest graphics in no time flat,” Domineau wrote. “Some of my biggest jokes would have been impossible without these geniuses building an insane image or finding the perfect real-life photo of a politician.”
If Saturday Night Live has begun using generative AI, it wouldn’t be the first time the show has incorporated new production tools into its famously compressed weekly schedule. After all, even digital photo manipulation—now a routine part of television production—was once a newer technique that gradually became embedded in the show’s visual language.
For many viewers, however, generative AI appears to represent a different kind of shift, particularly on a show where visual roughness and human ingenuity have long been part of the appeal.
LateNighter has reached out to NBC for comment and will update this post when/if we hear back.
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It made the joke worse. We clocked the slop immediately and missed the joke entirely because seeing something so lazy and just *bad* surprised us enough to take us out of the show. On second watch—yeah, the digital effigy was a drag on the whole joke. It lacked relevance, specificity, personality, and any “artist’s touch.” (And here we’ve thought these were reasons we were supposed to want to watch this show!) NBC really must be in dire straits if they’re reduced to this level of open nickel-pinching.
Well, the NBC late slight slate (which includes SNL) is losing $100 million per year….and AI content decreases costs and can be made far quicker.
Anything to get rid of all those late night people who give you a sad over the way they accurately portray Drumpf! Of course AI is just a bubble that’s going to quickly burst, causing the stock market to crash and making an already sick economy Drumpf made worse because of his tariffs!
You trailer trash fuckups are sick in the head!
AI late night hosts would be more talented than Colbert, far less expensive, and less whiny about being fired.
Good idea.
So what you’re saying is that you’re pro-AI? You do realize how bad this mindset is and you’re discouraging human ingenuity, even if you don’t agree with any late night hosts
You are no better than SNL and Fallon~
What a doomerist~
He can’t stand the thought of these late night hosts saying awful truths about his idol, Drumpf. So he consistently posts his stupid shit demanding they be fired for giving him a sad!
Mucky Boy is a loser who deserves to be ridiculed for his America hating ways!
AI is forbidden to say bad things about Trump? You get stupider by the hour.
AI-content was used for a bit…..now if it can be used to make Colbert’s latest face lift more viewable, it should welcomed.
Dunno…a person saying Colbert should sue a poster on a website should be shamed even worse. That was stupid even for you.
What is it with you crybaby MAGAts getting so upset over people criticizing your Dear Leader, that you have to make shit up? Every time you’re on here, you attack Colbert and Kimmel for saying truths about Drumpf, and when we call you out for that, you get all pissy and bitchy, which leads you to say stupid shit, which makes you look even dumber than before!
Why the fuck do you do this? You don’t even watch those shows, yet you think you can expertly take them apart, bit by bit! You’re just an angry loser with issues of your own doing!
Grow up already, Mucky Boy!
I watched the show, I didn’t notice it was AI.
Exactly who cares?
I don’t, even though I flat out hate AI!
For an American Institution that relies on human ingenuity and creativity, not caring about it only sets a bleak precedent for allowing AI in general taking away jobs that humans can do and letting the billionaires who invest get away with it~
This should never be the norm and should be rightfully called out~
This is like the one place no one should bat an eye about generative ai being used. If you generally hate ai, generally feel something like SNL isn’t funny because of ai, you’re just afraid because ai can do your job better and you got nothing to fall back on. You went and got a phd who’s transferable skills ai can do a million times better, should have got that Journeymen certificate.
Worst. Take. Ever.
AI is taking away jobs from human labor, and i don’t care if AI can do the job other creative disciplines but that’s a bad sign that you choose to side with using programs instead of actual labor for actual jobs~ This take reveals that you only care about profits like the billionaires who invest in this; not to mention how tone deaf that side hustle gig contradicts your own take if other interests are also occupied by AI generative usage; this is a lose-lose doomerism mindset and a disappointing disavow towards human creativity~
I wouldn’t even be surprised if you, the poster, are also an AI troll bot~ Begone, bot~🤖
AI can’t do anything creative, like writing stories or singing songs! And all AI’s going to do is create a financial bubble that will quickly burst, like the dot com bubble did, and make a huge mess of the world’s economy!
AI’s not the be all and end all you think it is, genius!