There’s much debate about artificial intelligence, and the sweeping changes that AI will bring about in various areas of society.
When it comes to showbiz, actors and screenwriters are already voicing concerns about AI putting them out of work — in fact, the recent third season of “Friends” alum Lisa Kudrow‘s HBO series “The Comeback” address that in its storyline, featuring her character starring in a sitcom written entirely by AI.
Netflix Is Embracing AI
Variety is reporting that Netflix‘s recently released second-quarter earnings report indicates that the streamer is going all-in on AI.
In fact, a whopping 300 Netflix programs have used generative AI — and that number is poised to grow by leaps and bounds.
In a letter to shareholders, Netflix explained that the use of AI extends through every part of the production process, from a show’s initial concept to post-production effects added after filming has completed.
The shareholder letter pointed to three specific shows: Indian series “Glory, “Brazilian soccer miniseries “Brasil 70: A Saga do Tri” and “The American Experiment,” a documentary series about the American Revolution. In terms of the latter, Netflix confirmed that AI was used to develop “highly complex sequences” that enhanced the number of people appearing in battle scenes and those featuring crowds of people.
“We are increasingly leveraging these tools to deliver higher-quality output more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional methods,” the Netflix shareholder letter states. “In some cases, productions would have had to leave out key shots and sequences in the absence of GenAI technology.”
The ‘Early Days’ of AI
In an earnings call to shareholders, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos explained that the streamer was still in its “early days” of using AI.
He continued by enthusing about AI’s potential to give “creatives better tools to bring their visions to life,” referencing 17 minutes of AI-enhanced footage in “The American Experiment” that “expanded the scope of the series that just wouldn’t have been feasible before.” As a bonus, that footage was produced “twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options.”
However, Sarandos insisted that Netflix had no intention of replacing creative personnel such as writers and actors with AI-generated content.
“We believe it takes great artists to make something great, and AI is not changing that,” he said.
“Movies are being made by people who make movies,” he added. “AI provides them with better tools to make them even better.”
Content Is Still King
At the end of the day, he insisted that Netflix’s main priority is the quality of its content, not how fast and cheaply it can be churned out.
That echoed what Sarandos told Politico in an interview earlier this year, when he delcared, “I don’t think faster and cheaper matters if it’s not better.”
Ben Affleck’s $587M AI Firm
Sarandos also discussed Netflx’s recent $587-million acquisition of InterPositive, the AI firm sold to Netflix by Ben Affleck.
“I do think that AI, particularly InterPositive, the company we bought from Ben, will help creators make things better,” he he said.
“Using their own dailies, using their own production materials to make the film that they’re making better,” he concluded. “Still requires writers and actors and lighting techs and all the things that you’d use to make a movie, but be able to make the movie more effective, more efficient.”
