Netflix Buys Ben Affleck's AI Company
Netflix acquired Ben Affleck's InterPositive AI company which builds AI models to automate time-intensive filmmaking tasks. Affleck says the tools "take out all the logistical, difficult, technical stuff that often gets in the way" of creativity, potentially streamlining future Netflix productions.
Ben Affleck quietly founded InterPositive in 2022, personally leading a team of engineers and researchers to build the AI models. They filmed a proprietary dataset on a controlled soundstage to teach the AI to understand visual logic and editorial consistency under real-world production challenges. The company's technology doesn't generate video from text prompts like other headline-grabbing AI. Instead, it's trained on a film's own daily footage to help with post-production tasks like fixing continuity errors, adjusting lighting, enhancing backgrounds, or even adding missing shots. The entire 16-person InterPositive team will join Netflix, with Affleck taking on a role as a senior advisor. The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. This marks a rare instance of Netflix acquiring a technology company rather than building the tools in-house. InterPositive's tools will be available exclusively to Netflix's creative partners and will not be sold commercially. This move aims to give Netflix productions a technical advantage in speed and visual quality while potentially reducing the significant portion of a film's budget that goes to post-production. The acquisition comes as Hollywood unions and studios are in deep negotiations over the use of artificial intelligence in film and television production. Both Netflix and Affleck have emphasized that the tools are designed to be assistive, keeping creative decisions firmly in the hands of artists and filmmakers.
