Netflix Brings Ben Affleck’s AI Filmmaking Tools In-House With InterPositive Deal

Netflix is acquiring InterPositive, an AI-powered filmmaking technology company quietly founded by actor and director Ben Affleck, the company announced Thursday. As part of the deal, Affleck will join Netflix as a senior adviser, and the entire InterPositive team will move to the streaming company. Netflix declined to disclose financial terms of the acquisition.

Affleck launched InterPositive several years ago with engineers, researchers, and creative executives to build AI tools designed specifically for film and television production workflows. According to Affleck, the company developed proprietary technology trained on a dataset captured on a closed soundstage. Its first model is designed to understand visual logic and editorial consistency while maintaining established cinematic conventions, even when productions face real-world issues such as missing shots, incorrect lighting, or the need for background replacements.

The focus of the technology is on filmmaking technique rather than actor performance. One feature allows directors to upload dailies—the raw footage shot each day—to fine-tune the model for a particular project, potentially helping filmmakers resolve technical issues or streamline editing decisions during production.

Affleck framed the project as an effort to ensure that technological change in Hollywood remains led by creatives. In a post published by Netflix, he wrote that InterPositive was built to “protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it,” positioning the tools as part of a longer history of filmmaking technology evolving alongside artists—from motion capture to virtual production.

Netflix executives echoed that framing as the industry continues to grapple with concerns about artificial intelligence replacing creative roles. Chief content officer Bela Bajaria said the company believes new technology should expand creative freedom rather than replace writers, actors, or production crews, describing InterPositive’s tools as a way to give filmmakers “more choices, more control and more protection for their vision.” Chief product and technology officer Elizabeth Stone added that Netflix views AI primarily as a tool to support storytellers rather than substitute for them.

The acquisition is notable in part because Netflix rarely buys outside companies, historically preferring to build technology internally. The company’s most recent acquisition before this was Ready Player Me, an avatar creation platform it purchased in December.

For Affleck, the move deepens an already close relationship with the streamer. His production company Artists Equity recently signed a first-look deal with Netflix, and his upcoming film “Animals,” starring Affleck, Kerry Washington, and Gillian Anderson, is scheduled for release on the platform later this year.

Affleck has previously argued that AI’s biggest impact on filmmaking will be reducing the cost and complexity of production rather than replacing artists. Speaking at a CNBC conference in 2024, he said the technology could help eliminate the “more laborious, less creative and more costly aspects of filmmaking,” lowering barriers to entry and making it easier for filmmakers to bring projects to life.

With InterPositive now inside Netflix, the company appears to be betting that AI tools designed by filmmakers themselves can help streamline production while keeping creative control firmly in human hands.

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This analysis is based on reporting from The Hollywood Reporter.

Image courtesy of Netflix.

This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.