Netflix and AI: 300 Productions, Hollywood is Worried

Netflix and AI: 300 Productions, Hollywood is Worried

In its latest earnings report, Netflix confirmed that approximately 300 of its productions now utilize generative artificial intelligence, primarily in post-production. This announcement coincides with the revelation of the amount paid to acquire InterPositive, the AI company founded by Ben Affleck.

Generative artificial intelligence is quietly but massively establishing itself in Netflix studios. While the streaming giant had long approached the topic with caution, co-CEO Ted Sarandos provided a figure this week that finally illustrates the phenomenon: nearly 300 titles in the catalog are already using these technologies at one stage or another of their production.

From Concept to Delivery, AI Usage is Becoming Widespread

According to Ted Sarandos, generative AI is now rapidly deployed across the entire creative process, from conception to pre-visualization, through post-production and final delivery. The executive claims that these tools allow for a higher quality output, produced more quickly and efficiently than with traditional methods. The most significant concentration of these uses is currently in post-production, particularly for shots or sequences that are particularly complex to execute.

Sarandos cited a concrete example to illustrate this evolution: the documentary The American Experiment, produced with the support of Tom Hanks, includes 17 minutes of footage that he describes as enhanced by AI. This footage reportedly allowed for an expansion of the series' ambition in a way that would simply not have been feasible before, while being produced twice as fast and at half the cost of traditional production methods.

However, this gradual generalization is accompanied by a persistent ambiguity regarding how Netflix concretely frames these uses, particularly concerning the professions directly affected by this partial automation.

$587 Million for Ben Affleck's Company: A Massive Investment in Generative AI

This announcement coincides with another revelation: a document filed with the U.S. securities regulator confirms that Netflix paid approximately $587 million, entirely in cash, to acquire InterPositive last March. Founded in 2022 by Ben Affleck, this company aimed to revolutionize visual effects through AI, without encroaching on the creative aspects of filmmaking, from writing to directing to acting.

InterPositive had created a proprietary dataset on a closed film set, which led to the development of an initial model trained to understand the visual logic and editorial coherence of a film, while respecting the very real constraints of a shoot: missing shots, background replacements, or imperfect lighting. Affleck has taken on a role as senior advisor as part of this agreement.

With 300 productions already involved and such a significant investment, Netflix no longer seems to be testing generative AI in a corner of the lab: it has made it a fully-fledged production tool, risking reigniting tensions that had already shaken Hollywood during the 2023 strikes.