Classic television shouldn’t be quietly rewritten after the fact.

When Netflix streams an AI-upscaled or digitally enhanced version of an older show, viewers deserve to know that it may not be the same version that originally aired. But right now, an altered remaster can replace the original without a clear label, an explanation or any way for subscribers to choose which version they watch.

We saw why that matters when A Different World returned to Netflix in early 2025. Fans expecting the beloved original found an “HD” version filled with warped faces, mangled features and background signs transformed into nonsense symbols—the telltale failures of apparent AI upscaling.

AI upscaling doesn’t simply clean up an old image. When the original footage doesn’t contain enough detail, the technology predicts what should be there. That means it can invent letters, reconstruct facial features and change parts of the image that were never unclear to the original audience.

It remains uncertain whether Netflix created this particular remaster or received it from the show’s rights holder. But Netflix presented it to subscribers without a warning, an AI disclosure or the option to watch the original version.

Just a groundbreaking Black sitcom—one that introduced generations of viewers to HBCU life—quietly altered and served as though nothing had changed.

And A Different World may not be the last. As streaming services modernize older catalogs for HD and 4K screens, more completed films and television shows could be digitally altered years or even decades after their original release.

This petition isn’t about banning AI or requiring a warning every time a filmmaker uses a new tool during production. It’s about something much more specific: using AI after the fact to materially alter a completed work and then presenting that altered version as the original.

Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters can make one straightforward change: require a clear disclosure in the title details and credits whenever an older movie or television show has been materially altered using AI.

That disclosure should explain the change in plain language—for example: “This presentation was digitally enhanced using AI and may differ from the version originally broadcast.”

Viewers should know when faces, writing, voices, framing or other elements of an existing work have been changed. They should also be told whether the original version is available.

Restoration should preserve television history—not quietly replace it.