Published: July 24, 2024
Photo from Juraj Gabriel via Unsplash
Netflix Centers Future Content Plans Around AI
By Movieguide® Contributor
During a Q2 earnings call, Netflix’s co-CEOs revealed that general AI sits at the center of its future plans both for content creation and for its platform’s operations.
“I would say this. I think that AI is going to generate a great set of creator tools, a great way for creators to tell better stories. And on thing that’s sure if you look back over 100 years of entertainment, you can see how great technology and great entertainment work hand in hand to make great big businesses,” said co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
“You can look no further than animation,” Sarandos continued. “Animation didn’t get cheaper, it got better in the move from hand-drawn to CG animation, and more people work in animation today than ever in history. So I’m pretty sure there’s a better business and bigger business in making content 10% better than there is in making it 50% cheaper.”
It is unclear how Netflix’s use of AI in the future will comply with the safeguards set in place during negotiations with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. Both unions secured strong protections for their members, placing the power in their hands when it comes to the use of AI. Under the deals secured last year, writers can use the technology if they want but cannot be forced to, while actors must be asked for consent anytime their performances are used to generate AI content.
Sarandos believes his vision for the future will empower everyone in the industry to create even better work by cutting out busywork and tedious parts of the job, creating more opportunities rather than less.
“I think that shows and movies win with the audience when they connect. It’s in the beauty of writing, it’s in the chemistry of the actors, it’s in surprise in the plot twists, all those things,” he said. “And I’m not saying audiences don’t notice all these other things, but I think they largely care mostly about connecting with storytelling.”
“I’d say they probably don’t care much about budgets, and arguably not even about the technology to deliver it,” Sarandos continued. “My point is they’re looking to connect, so we have to focus on the quality of storytelling.”
“There’s a lot of filmmakers, a lot of producers experimenting with AI today, they’re super excited about how useful a tool it can be,” he added. “And we’ve gotta see how that develops before we can make any meaningful predictions of what it means for anybody, but our goal remains unchanged, which is telling great stories.”
Beyond content creation, Netflix also plans for AI to power its platform, helping create an even better algorithm to feed targeted content to users.
“We’ve been using similar technologies, AI and ML [Machine Learning] for many years to improve the discovery experience and drive more engagement through those improvements,” explained co-CEO Greg Peters. “We think that generative AI has tremendous potential to improve our Recommendations and Discovery systems even further.”
“We want to make it easier for people to find an amazing story that’s just perfect for them in that moment. But I think it’s also worth noting that the key to our success stacks, it’s quality at all levels. It’s great movies, it’s great TV shows, it’s great games, it’s great live events, and a great and constantly improving recommendation system that helps unlock all of that value for all of those stories,” he added.
Seeing as Netflix’s strategy often leads the way for all streamers, this approach to content is likely to become the industry standard in the future. The oncoming of AI, however, is no surprise as even amid the strikes last year, most studios were hiring for AI positions.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Studios continue to hire for AI-related positions despite heavy pressure from actors and writers to stem the use of the technology.
The use of AI in the entertainment industry has emerged as a key issue in the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strikes. Both groups want the use of AI in their fields to be banned as they fear the technology could replace a worrying number of jobs. Their cries, however, appear to be falling on deaf ears.
Disney—a company that has become one of the villains of the strike—is currently expanding its “imagineering” team, the group in charge of their theme parks. One role is for an R&D position focused on generative AI; the position calls for someone with the “ambition to push the limits of what AI tools can create and understand the difference between the voice of data and the voice of a designer, writer or artist.”
The role will “collaborate with third party studios, universities, organizations, and developers to evaluate, adopt and integrate the latest generative AI.” The job’s base salary starts at $180,000 a year.
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