Netflix just announced they are completing an acquisition (no, not that one). This one is with InterPositive, a 16-person AI company that creates tools for creatives in the movie industry. The acquisition is notable primarily because it involves Ben Affleck and represents an AI play in an industry where the term remains a bit taboo.
It’s obvious to me that as things progress we’re going to see more AI involved in the creative arts. Leveraging tools to help make production cheaper and easier is the logical path for a streamer obsessed with margins. I understand the concern about using AI to re-create people’s name, image, and likeness (or synthetically create performances). I personally don’t want to watch films or TV shows where the actors aren’t real (although anything animated technically falls under that bucket, but you get the point).
I’m curious to see if Netflix will use this tech for their internal productions only or license it out to other studios. Affleck’s comment in the press release claimed:
[I] look forward to providing the broader creative community with access to what we build and the future we’re working towards together
Ben Affleck
That comment suggests the original plan is to license it to others (but I would be surprised if that ends up being the final reality). What I think is more likely is that we’re seeing the early stages of an AI arms race in the TV and film industry. We will likely see a few more of these boutique AI companies getting snatched up soon.
Another big creative AI company with a high-profile Hollywood name attached? Stability.AI.