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A zombie virus has overtaken South Los Angeles<\/a>. Authorities, hoping to contain the outbreak, have decided to barricade the neighborhood, leaving residents to make do on their own. So begins They Left Us to Die<\/em>, a new microdrama<\/a> from media company Mansa that runs 30 episodes and is entirely AI-generated<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe plague was made here, made on us, on purpose,\u201d says Imani Cross, an emergency room nurse desperate for a cure to help her brother DJ, who\u2019s been infected.<\/p>\n On Instagram, the trailer<\/a> drew mostly favorable reaction when it was released on October 29. A cascade of fire emoji filled the comments section as anticipation mounted. But the following day, as the first episode was set to go live at midnight, new tensions began to stir. Why had Mansa created a show with zero human roles? Weren\u2019t actors David Oyelowo and Nate Parker, the company\u2019s founders, about uplifting artists of color, not erasing them?<\/p>\n \u201cMansa was one of the first vertical apps that was supposed to support and cultivate black talent, but here they are \u2026 another AI sellout,\u201d said one user<\/a> on Threads. \u201cWhy would any self-respecting casting director, producer, or director ever consider hiring Oleyowo again after this?\u201d posted<\/a> another. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown responded with a single note of disapproval: \u201c*sigh* Mmkay,\u201d she wrote<\/a>, adding a gif of Viola Davis expressing irritation.<\/p>\n Parker wasn\u2019t surprised by the backlash. \u201cWhen we hear the words AI, it immediately drives us to the realities of what we are facing and the real lives it\u2019s impacting,\u201d Parker tells WIRED.<\/p>\n The problem is that while Hollywood is desperate for more expansive Black stories, not everyone agrees on the best way to make them happen.<\/p>\n As part of Mansa\u2019s development strategy, the company says it is using AI as a chess piece rather than a replacement for human-centered content. The power comes in leveraging a show like They Left Us to Die<\/em> as a way to bring more awareness to what Black audiences will support. He describes the approach as \u201cholding the line on our very existence\u201d in an industry that\u2019s consolidating, and being able to \u201cuse all the tools that we have at our disposal to make sure we can staff up around shows that get greenlit.\u201d<\/p>\n In the shrinking Hollywood of today, a series about a Black ER nurse fighting off a zombie virus unleashed on her neighborhood by white people would likely struggle to find the backing of a major studio without first having proved its value 10 times over. Mansa\u2019s strategy is to test the appetite of audiences with its AI shows. Parker believes this will demonstrate to studios that there is a demand for those kinds of stories before committing to a live production.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n