Netflix Spends Crazy $587 Million on Ben Affleck’s Specialized Company!

In 2022, Ben Affleck established InterPositive, an AI infrastructure tailored to the realities of film production, designed for filmmakers. Its aim? To address a range of production and editing issues (correcting continuity errors, reframing shots, adjusting lighting, etc.) without replacing the filmmakers themselves. For some time, this company caught Netflix’s attention, and the streaming giant has officially taken the plunge and spent a staggering sum to acquire it.

Netflix Officially Acquires Ben Affleck’s AI Company

What was once just a rumor since last March has now become a reality: the streaming platform has paid a whopping $587 million (approximately 513 million euros) to acquire InterPositive, as revealed by our colleagues at Deadline. At the time, the purchase price had not been disclosed, although Bloomberg reporters mentioned a figure around $600 million.

Netflix will now integrate the small, discreet team founded by Ben Affleck. The actor, who had a difficult time filming Justice League, will become the main advisor to the platform on AI-related issues. But what does this actually mean? The researchers, engineers, and other employees of InterPositive, a team of just sixteen, will join Netflix’s internal development chain and collaborate on various projects.

Cinema in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

In its latest financial report, the streaming platform disclosed that about 300 of its productions had already utilized generative AI. Regarding AI, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, stated: “It’s still too early to draw definitive conclusions about InterPositive, but we are already seeing that next-generation AI is starting to impact hundreds of our productions“, adding, “We are fully leveraging generative AI for particularly complex shots and sequences“.

Let’s hope Netflix doesn’t overuse artificial intelligence, as will be the case with British studio Particle 6. Indeed, this studio plans to cast a lead role in its next movie to… a fake actress. Tilly Norwood, generated by AI, will star as the heroine in the AI-created film Misaligned.