Fox Nation to debut AI-generated Houdini series on Oct. 14

Harry Houdini died on Oct. 31, 1926. Almost a century later, he will sit for an interview.

Fox Nation has set Oct. 14 as the debut date for "Houdini: Back from the Dead," a three-part series, meaning the story is told across three episodes, created using artificial intelligence (AI), according to Variety. The launch comes about two weeks before the 100th anniversary of Houdini's death.

The hook is simple. An AI-generated Houdini appears as a documentary subject answering questions about his life on camera. The face and figure were built from more than 400 licensed photographs and archival footage, meaning old pictures and film clips cleared for use.

Human performers are still all over the production. Actors served as stand-ins for Houdini's wife Bess, his mother, his brother and friends. AI was then used to transform them into those figures on screen, Variety reported.

People also wrote the words. Scripts were written by humans drawing from diaries, books and letters. Historical points were verified by experts and research. The voices in the finished series are a mix of human and AI-generated speech.

The production organisation behind the series is Red Rock Films. It is the first fully AI-generated title under the Fox News banner. Fox Nation is the subscription streaming service from Fox News, led by president Lauren Petterson, according to Variety.

What makes this stand out is the split. The likeness, the transformation and part of the vocal work come from machines. The acting base, the scripts and the fact-checking come from people.

For viewers, this means a short run to find in one place. All three episodes belong to Fox Nation. The debut is Oct. 14.