Netflix has revealed just how big of a bet it is making on artificial intelligence, spending more than $500 million on one of Hollywood’s early AI companies.
The Los Gatos-based company announced in March that it would acquire Ben Affleck’s AI film technology company Interpositive. A new securities filing reveals that the streaming giant paid $587 million for the “Good Will Hunting” actor’s company. The disclosure was made in a filing by Netflix with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.
Interpositive was founded in 2022 when Affleck became concerned about how AI would impact the film industry.
According to a March news release from Netflix, the company is focused on developing “AI-powered tools built by filmmakers, for filmmakers” and leveraging new technologies to “protect and expand creative options.” The streamer said it is “investing in creator-led innovation that keeps filmmakers at the center of the process” and that the technology will be exclusive to Netflix.
Netflix declined to comment on disclosures regarding the purchase price.
During the company’s earnings call last week, Netflix co-chief executive officer Ted Sarandos said the work with InterPositive was just beginning.
“While InterPositive is still in its early stages, we broadly recognize that: [generative AI] It’s starting to influence hundreds of our pieces,” Sarandos said.
He says about 300 productions are currently using AI in their processes. The company primarily uses the technology in the post-production process, using generative AI for “very complex shots and sequences,” Sarandos said on the conference call.
“We are able to produce high-quality deliverables more quickly and efficiently than we could using traditional methods,” he said.
He cited the historical documentary “The American Experiment,” which was executive produced by Tom Hanks, as an example.
Sarandos said the documentary series includes 17 minutes of “AI-enhanced” footage and was produced “twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options.”
As part of the acquisition, Netflix announced it would bring together InterPositive’s entire team and retain Affleck as a senior advisor.
The company’s AI investments come as Netflix faces uncertainty.
Since Netflix released its second quarter earnings report, the company’s stock price has plummeted. On Monday, the company’s stock fell 2% to $67.60.
Its second-quarter results renewed concerns among investors and analysts about the streamer’s future growth.
Netflix also reduced its 2026 forecast from $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion to a range of $51 billion to $51.4 billion.
When launching Interpositive, Affleck said he wanted to continue “human storytelling.” So he worked with a group of engineers to develop a unique dataset on a soundstage and build the first AI model.
He said the model is “trained to understand visual logic and editorial consistency while maintaining the rules of film under real-world production challenges such as missing shots, background substitutions, and lighting inaccuracies,” while also “placing creative decisions in the hands of the artist.”
Most of Hollywood is critical of technology and skeptical of the big players in the field.
The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the actors union of which Affleck is a member, recently negotiated new contracts with major studios and secured new AI guardrails. The new guidelines set out how studios will use generative AI and strongly support “human performance.”
On the other side, controversial AI developer Tilly Norwood was cast in her first official role this month. The bot, created by Particle 6, will star in a comedy-drama called “Misaligned.”
times staff writer Wendy Lee contributed to this report.
