As the entertainment sector considers when and how to integrate generative AI into filmmaking, Netflix is embracing it. In its quarterly earnings statement published Tuesday afternoon, Netflix stated in its letter to shareholders that it is “very well positioned to effectively leverage ongoing advances in AI.”
Netflix does not intend to utilize generative AI as the core of its content but thinks the technology could be a tool to boost creative efficiency.
“It requires a great artist to produce something great,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos noted during Tuesday’s earnings conference call. “AI can furnish creatives with improved tools to elevate their overall TV/movie experience for our viewers, but it doesn’t guarantee great storytelling if you’re not already one.”
Earlier in the year, Netflix reported employing generative AI in the finalized footage for the first time in the Argentine series “The Eternaut” to depict a building’s collapse. Subsequently, the filmmakers of “Happy Gilmore 2” employed generative AI to visually age down characters in the movie’s initial scene, while the team behind “Billionaires’ Bunker” used the technology as a pre-production resource to visualize costume and set designs.
“We’re convinced that AI will assist us and our creative collaborators in crafting narratives that are superior, swifter, and more innovative,” Sarandos commented. “We are fully committed to this, but we are not pursuing novelty simply for its own sake.”
AI has been a controversial subject within the entertainment world, as artists are concerned that LLM-driven tools that have utilized their creations without consent as training data could have a detrimental impact on their employment.
With Netflix as a guide, studios seem more inclined to employ generative AI for visual effects rather than to substitute actors — despite a recent stir among Hollywood actors caused by an AI actor, even before securing any roles (to our knowledge). However, these behind-the-scenes applications of AI still hold the potential to affect visual effects positions.
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These discussions have recently intensified after ChatGPT creator OpenAI unveiled its Sora 2 audio and video generation model, which was launched without restrictions to prevent users from creating videos of certain actors and historical personalities. Just this week, the Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA and actor Bryan Cranston urged OpenAI to enforce stricter controls against creating deepfakes of actors such as Cranston himself.
When an investor inquired with Sarandos about Sora’s influence on Netflix, he responded that it “starts to make sense” that content creators could be affected, though he expresses less concern regarding the movie and television industry — or at least, that’s what he conveys to investors.
“We aren’t concerned that AI will supplant creativity,” he stated.
Netflix’s quarterly earnings rose by 17% year-over-year, amounting to $11.5 billion, although this was less than the company’s projected figure.
