Netflix buys Ben Affleck’s AI film tech firm

Netflix said it had acquired InterPositive, a filmmaking technology company founded by Academy Award winner Ben Affleck that builds AI tools for movie production.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Affleck founded InterPositive in 2022 and said the company trained AI models to follow visual logic and editorial consistency while adding restraints to protect creative intent.

The deal comes as the media industry is warming to the use of AI for content after earlier concerns about jobs and intellectual property.

It follows Disney’s announcement that it will allow OpenAI to use characters from its Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel franchises for OpenAI’s Sora AI video generator.

Affleck will be joining Netflix as senior advisor.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The founder’s philosophy on AI in filmmaking

Ben Affleck, the founder of InterPositive that Netflix said it acquired, has called AI a “craftsman at best,” not a true artist 1.
He says AI can copy existing styles but cannot make something genuinely new, like writing Elizabethan-sounding verse without being Shakespeare 1.
Affleck has said AI in filmmaking should strip out the more laborious, less creative, and more costly parts of the work, which can bring costs down 1.
He added that lower costs could reduce barriers to entry and bring in more voices, including people who want to make films like “Good Will Hunting” 1.

An AI buyout that could shift the streaming fight

Netflix bought InterPositive, a company that builds AI tools for movie production, which suggests a push to build production tech inside the company instead of leaning only on content deals.
The move suggests a bet that AI tools can cut spending and speed up parts of production, as media companies juggle budgets with growth targets.
It also frames Netflix as a studio with stronger technical control over the pipeline, from making projects to delivering them.
If it works, competitors may put more money into production software, which could shift the contest from the biggest catalog to the leanest studio operation.