Netflix is buying Ben Affleck’s AI startup | The Verge

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Affleck is also joining the streamer as a senior advisor.

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Though Netflix lost the war for Warner Bros., it has just bought an AI startup from the internet’s favorite Dunkin’ Donuts aficionado.

Today, Netflix announced that it has acquired Inter Positive, Ben Affleck’s AI company that specializes in tools for film and television production. The deal will see all 16 of Inter Positive’s current team of engineers and researchers move over to Netflix. Affleck is also set to join the streamer as a senior advisor.

In a statement about the acquisition and his reasons for founding Inter Positive in 2022, Affleck said he was inspired to get into the tech space after “observing the early rise of AI in production” and finding many of the tools lacking. Affleck felt that he “had a responsibility to [his] peers and our industry, to protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it.” And he thinks that Netflix’s history of “applying and scaling technology responsibly” makes them the ideal partner to take Inter Positive to the next level.

“I wanted to build a workflow that captures what happens on a set, with vocabulary that matched the language cinematographers and directors already spoke and included the kind of consistency and controls they would expect,” Affleck explained.

Unlike AI models designed to generate visual outputs based on text, Inter Positive’s tech is focused on ingesting dailies (raw footage from in-progress productions) and creating assets that can then be incorporated into the post-production process. In a video with Netflix’s chief technology officer Elizabeth Stone and head content officer Bela Bajaria, Affleck said that using Inter Positive’s customized models can enable filmmakers to more effectively mix, color correct, and develop special effects for their projects.

The models can be used to manipulate backgrounds, reframe shots, and edit out visual elements like stunt wires that shouldn’t be visible. Affleck says that this can all be done more quickly and easily using his company’s product. But he also emphasized that Inter Positive’s models are meant to help actors focus on their performances without worrying about “all the logistical, difficult, technical stuff.”

Inter Positive’s main selling point is that, because its models are trained specifically on individual projects, they can produce assets that are unique and tailored to a filmmaker’s vision. The models need dailies in order to churn out anything useful, which means they also need humans. Netflix has yet to announce when and how it will deploy Inter Positive’s tech with its internally-developed projects. But when the time comes, the streamer is likely banking on audiences not knowing or caring that they’re watching more films and series crafted with AI.

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