The update came alongside Netflix’s second-quarter results. The company reported revenue of $12.56 billion, up 13.4% from a year earlier, and net income of $3.4 billion, or 80 cents per share. Analysts tracked by LSEG Data & Analytics had expected $12.59 billion in revenue and earnings of 79 cents per share.
Netflix has increasingly positioned AI as part of its broader operating strategy, from title discovery and advertising to production tools. In March, the company acquired InterPositive, the AI company founded by Ben Affleck, saying the deal would help give filmmakers AI tools for use across film and TV production.
On Thursday’s earnings call, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the InterPositive acquisition is still in its “early days,” but that Netflix is already seeing benefits from it and from internal AI tools. He said AI gives “creatives better tools to bring their visions to life.”
Sarandos highlighted “The American Experiment,” saying the series included 17 minutes of AI-enhanced footage that “expanded the scope of the series that just wouldn’t have been feasible before” and was produced “twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options.”
At the same time, Sarandos rejected the idea that Netflix is using AI to displace creative workers.
“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. AI provides them with better tools to make them even better.”
His comments track with remarks he made in March, when he described AI as a creator tool rather than a replacement for the people involved in production. He also argued that speed and cost savings only matter if the work improves.
“I don’t think faster and cheaper matters if it’s not better,” Sarandos said.
He added that InterPositive could help creators improve projects by using their own production materials, while still relying on the people needed to make films and shows. “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,” he said.
Netflix’s disclosure gives a clearer sense of how quickly generative AI is moving from experimental production tests into mainstream entertainment workflows. The company is framing the technology as a way to expand scope and efficiency, while trying to distance that strategy from fears that AI will replace the artists and crews behind its programming.
This analysis is based on reporting from Variety.
Image courtesy of Netflix.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
