TLDR
Nine embedded generative AI throughout The Block 2026, using it to create personalised music, alter outfits and animate cast members. The disclosure came at a 16 September advertiser Upfront, with no viewer-facing credit in episodes, putting brand partners ahead of audiences on transparency.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What Nine did to the edit
Nine used generative AI across the 2026 season of The Block to produce personalised music jingles, alter contestants' outfits and generate animations, including sequences where cast members were transformed into animals and placed inside fantasy scenes.[1] None of those changes were flagged to viewers in episode credits or any other on-screen disclosure.
The Block has run for 22 seasons and draws over 1.6 million viewers per episode.[2] A production change of this scale lands in front of that audience whether Nine draws attention to it or not.
How the disclosure happened
Nine first publicly acknowledged the AI editing at its 2027 Upfront on 16 September 2026, a commercial presentation for advertisers and brand partners.[1] Cast members gave their first on-the-record reactions five days later, on 21 September.
Advertisers whose buying decisions Nine is trying to shape with the AI-enhanced edit heard about it from an Upfront deck. Viewers found out from cast interviews, if they found out at all.
What the cast said
David Barbour, the show's post-production executive producer and co-creator, offered the clearest endorsement. "This season, AI has become another creative tool in our storytelling toolkit," Barbour said. "AI simply gives us more creative options to amplify those moments in entertaining and unexpected ways."[1]
Scott Cam was measured. "Look, it's been good. I always have liked the music on The Block. I've always thought it was fantastic, and the AI is personalising all of that," Cam said. "I'd like it a little bit peppered throughout."[1] That preference for restraint is the kind of note a producer files and revisits next season.
Judge Shaynna Blaze was candid about where she personally sits. "To tell you the truth, I'm not an AI person, so I like traditional," Blaze said. "But the thing is, the reason The Block is so good and it keeps coming back is because they try everything."[1] Blaze endorsed the format's instinct to experiment while her personal preference ran the other way.
The commercial logic and the regulatory timing
Nine's own commissioned research explains the appetite for experimenting with the edit. Research from Gemba, commissioned by Nine for Season 22, found that integrated storytelling on The Block delivered an average 8.4% lift in brand consideration among viewers, along with a 43% increase in premium brand association.[2] AI-enhanced post-production that sharpens emotional moments sharpens those numbers too.
In April 2026, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) published its "AI in media" report, documenting concerns about large-scale AI scraping of content from major media companies, including Nine's own mastheads, without compensation, and calling for clearer transparency standards across the industry.[3] ACMA's report arrived six months before Nine stood at an Upfront and told advertisers its biggest reality format had been AI-edited throughout its run.
Whether ACMA treats the absence of any viewer-facing credit as a live enforcement question remains open, though the April report has given it the framework to ask.[3]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What AI tools did Nine use on The Block 2026?
Why did Nine disclose the AI editing at an advertiser Upfront rather than in episode credits?
Does ACMA have the power to act on undisclosed AI editing in television?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
