Netflix may have paid $600 million for Ben Affleck’s AI startup

Final week, Netflix introduced the acquisition of InterPositive, an AI firm co-founded by Ben Affleck that helps filmmakers edit footage in post-production.

This deal might be value as much as $600 million, in response to Bloomberg, doubtlessly rating it among the many streaming big’s largest acquisitions ever. Probably the most Netflix has ever paid for a single acquisition was roughly $700 million for the Roald Dahl Story Firm. 

Whereas Netflix has not publicly confirmed the small print, sources inform Bloomberg that the precise money cost could also be decrease, with the homeowners of InterPositive eligible for added payouts tied to particular efficiency targets. 

InterPositive makes instruments that assist filmmakers work extra effectively in put up manufacturing — addressing continuity points or enhancing scenes, for instance — nevertheless it doesn’t generate new content material or use footage with out permission.

This acquisition suits Netflix’s broader push to combine AI into content material manufacturing. The corporate has already used generative AI in its authentic exhibits and films, together with to create a building-collapse scene within the Argentine collection “The Eternaut.”

Rivals are shifting in the identical route. Amazon is constructing in-house AI groups for movie and TV initiatives, whereas Disney has struck a take care of OpenAI.

Not everyone seems to be on board. Staff throughout the movie business have raised considerations about potential job losses and whether or not AI corporations are compensating creators pretty for coaching knowledge.