Netflix acquires Ben Affleck’s AI company | KGOU

Netflix is acquiring Ben Affleck’s AI-powered filmmaking tool company, InterPositive, for an undisclosed sum.

In a video accompanying the company’s announcement on Thursday, Ben Affleck said InterPositive’s technology helps filmmakers to build their own, proprietary AI models based on the scenes they’ve already shot, and then use that data to help solve otherwise laborious details.

“You can use your own model to remove the wires on stunts, reframe a shot, get a shot you missed, shape the lighting, enhance the backgrounds,” said the Oscar-winning director, producer, writer and actor, who has also joined Netflix as a senior advisor.

In an email to NPR, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the main union supporting Hollywood’s technical workers, including camera operators, lighting and sound technicians, grips, script supervisors, among other industry disciplines, said it does not comment on mergers and acquisitions.

This is just the latest agreement the Oscar-winning filmmaker has struck with Netflix. Earlier this week, Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company, Artists Equity, signed a major multi-year partnership with the streamer. The agreement gives Netflix first dibs to develop and distribute all of the pair’s future streaming-focused projects. Affleck has also made and released multiple movies in collaboration with Netflix, most recently The Rip, a thriller starring Affleck and Damon as Miami narcotics officers who find a secret hoard of drug money.

Despite his tech interests, Affleck has expressed a desire to keep humans at the center of the creative process. He is among the hundreds of Hollywood insiders to sign on to the Creators Coalition on AI. The group, established late last year, describes itself on its website as “a central hub for cross-industry discussions about how AI is impacting the entertainment industry.”

“This is not a full rejection of AI,” the group stated. “The technology is here. This is a commitment to responsible, human-centered innovation.”

“The InterPositive team is joining Netflix because of our shared belief that innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them,” said Elizabeth Stone, Netflix’s chief product and technology officer, in a press release. She said the partnership would “continue building towards a future of entertainment where technology plays a part in how stories are made, but people — and their ideas, craft and judgment — remain at the core of great storytelling.”

The deal between InterPositive and Netflix comes just over a week since the streamer pulled out of its plan to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. Paramount agreed to acquire the media giant in a deal valued at around $110 billion. On Feb. 26, the Warner Brothers Discovery board declared Paramount’s bid to be “superior” to an $83 billion deal it had previously struck with Netflix.

Kimberly A. Owczarski, an associate professor at Texas Christian University who studies media franchises, told NPR in an email that Netflix’s decision to partner with a filmmaker of Affleck’s prominence sends out a positive message to an industry reeling from the threats posed by the growing adoption of AI across the entertainment landscape.

“His status in the industry as a star, filmmaker, and producer gives substantial weight as he promotes a responsible use of AI in filmmaking,” Owczarski said.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story.

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