"Powell did make a cameo last year when Sydney Sweeney hosted, but this was his first time showing what he could do at the center of an episode.Overall, Powell showed off a solid range of characters, including a ponytailed middle-aged dad in a country video, an excitable Norwegian actor and, well, Liam Neeson. And in one sketch, Powell managed to make a strong impression with no dialogue at all."
"The premise? A group of young adults visits their grandmother (played by Ashley Padilla), and shows off AI technology that can add motion to old family photos. What begins fairly innocuously, with an image of Padilla's father (Powell) smiling and waving, quickly takes an increasingly unsettling trip into the uncanny valley. This was not the first time SNL has riffed on the gulf between AI hype and the hallucination-prone reality; it's probably not going to be the last, either."
"Earlier this week, an AI-powered app called 2wai came under fire for an online advertisement that was ostensibly designed to be heartwarming but instead played out like a cautionary tale about using technology to reanimate deceased loved ones. It's not clear if this sketch is intended as a response to that - but it's a good reminder that sometimes, old family photos are perfectly fine the way they are."
Glen Powell hosted SNL for the first time after a planned appearance four years earlier was postponed by Top Gun: Maverick's delayed release. He previously made a cameo when Sydney Sweeney hosted. Powell performed a range of characters: a ponytailed middle-aged dad in a country video, an excitable Norwegian actor, and an impression of Liam Neeson, including a silent sketch that made a strong impression. One sketch featured young adults showing AI software that animates old family photos for a grandmother, with an image of Powell as her father becoming increasingly unsettling and drifting into the uncanny valley. The sketch echoes ongoing concerns about AI-generated likenesses.
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