Netflix boss Ted Sarandos hails generative AI as creative tool, not just cost cutter
We’ve all seen what generative AI can do – and that’s pretty much anything you want. And hey, if that only means costing the jobs and income of genuine artists, what’s wrong with that? That is, aside from ditching integrity and transparency and basic human decency…One of the biggest cases for such AI is the extent that it will save cost on projects both major and small. But for Ted Sarandos, he says it’s not so much about keeping a few bucks in the pocket but rather pushing creativity…OK, let’s hear him out…
As Netflix delivered their financial results for Q2 – which saw an estimated income of nearly $4 billion – co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that AI is a part of the process that is meant to enhance films and TV shows. “We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper. 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.” Sarandos previously said that AI could help make movies 10% better, a figure that is entirely arbitrary and backed up only by hypothesis.
Netflix, expectedly, has already begun dabbling in bringing AI to the small screen, with Argentinian series El Eternauta (The Eternaut) using the generative form to showcase a building collapsing. (That the story went widely underreported in the three months since it debuted might be saying more than we are proud of…) As Sarandos put it, “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 work flows…The creators were thrilled with the result. We were thrilled with the result, and more importantly the audience was thrilled with the result. So I think these tools are helping creators expand the possibilities of storytelling on screen, and that is endlessly exciting.” The reported budget for the six episodes was $15 million, a figure that would have no doubt been higher had artificial intelligence not been used.
Admittedly, I have yet to see The Eternaut – which arrived on Netflix in April – so cannot properly comment on its use of generative AI. But fundamentally, it’s growing increasingly difficult to support such a thing since it is inevitably costing jobs and craftsmanship. Yet, it’s here to stay…unlike that building in Buenos Aires it helped destroy.
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