Netflix acquires Ben Affleck’s AI film production company InterPositive

Netflix announced Thursday morning that it will acquire Interpositive, a film production technology company founded by actor Ben Affleck in 2022.

This acquisition is consistent with Netflix’s approach to the use of generative AI in filmmaking. The company already uses generative AI for special effects on some of its original content, and has assured investors that it is “very well positioned to effectively leverage ongoing advances in AI.”

Affleck said in a statement that he started thinking about how AI will impact the future of filmmaking in 2022. “I want to protect what makes human storytelling human, which is our judgment,” he said, “and I want to protect human creativity.”

InterPositive is not trying to create AI actors or synthetic performances. Rather, the company created a model to help production teams work with footage from their own productions and edit in post-production, such as addressing continuity issues and adding lightning adjustments and enhancements to environments.

“Intensive research and development has resulted in the first model trained to understand visual logic and editing consistency while maintaining the rules of film under real-world production challenges such as missing shots, background substitutions, and lighting inaccuracies,” Affleck wrote.

“It also has built-in limits to protect creative intent, so this tool is designed to enable responsible exploration while putting creative decisions in the hands of artists. It’s also designed to ensure that the benefits of this technology translate directly into the stories artists are trying to tell.”

As part of the deal, Affleck will join Netflix as a senior advisor. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Our approach to AI has always been focused on meaningfully serving the needs of our creative community and members,” Elizabeth Stone, Netflix’s chief product and technology officer, said in a statement. “The InterPositive team is joining Netflix because of our shared belief that innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them.”