Netflix chief champions generative AI: Why that could spell trouble for artists
After Netflix revealed its impressive second-quarter earnings, co-CEO Ted Sarandos shared the streamer's plans involving AI and how the company plans to use it going forward. While much of the conversation revolves around cost, Sarandos believes AI will improve the quality of Netflix's movies and TV shows.
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'We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,' Sarandos told financial analysts via The Hollywood Reporter. 'So this is real people doing real work with better tools. Our creators are already seeing the benefits in production through pre-visualization and shot planning work, and certainly visual effects.'
Netflix has already incorporated AI into its filmmaking strategy. In April, the streamer released The Eternaut, an Argentine sci-fi drama based on the comic by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López. In the show, toxic snowfall eliminates most of the population. The survivors eventually learn that the murderous snowstorm is only the first part of an alien invasion.
Using GenAI, Argentinian VFX artists collaborated with Netflix to depict a building collapse in Buenos Aires during one of the episodes. This is the first-ever GenAI sequence to air in a Netflix original series or movie. Judging by Sarandos' positive reaction, this won't be the last time Netflix utilizes AI.
'Using AI-powered tools, they were able to achieve an amazing result with remarkable speed, and, in fact, that VFX sequence was completed ten times faster than it could have been completed with traditional VFX tools and workflows,' Sarandos explained.
As Netflix reaps the rewards of GenAI, other companies have experienced the negative side effects. Disney and Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against the GenAI program Midjourney. The studios cited Midjourney as the 'quintessential copyright free-rider' and a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism.'
Copyright issues and automation are two of the many concerns shared by creators when discussing AI. Nadeem Sarwar, a tech and science journalist at Digital Trends, believes Netflix's use of AI will only hurt, not benefit, creators.
'The whole focus on 'speed' is essentially Netflix trying to speed up the process of creative iteration,' Sarwar explained. 'This also means robbing people of the painstaking work they would otherwise do meticulously, but in more time. It only benefits Netflix and not artists.'
With advances in technology, AI isn't going away anytime soon. How it plays out in the future is the fear that keeps artists up at night.
'The trend was already inevitable,' Sarwar added. 'Marvel did it and got flak for it. We thought Netflix and other studios would learn. They clearly are not going to.'
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