Netflix Reveals How Much of Its Content Has Used Generative AI – and It Is More Than Anyone Thought

In an unexpected admission during its second-quarter earnings report, Netflix has revealed that around 300 titles produced this year for the streamer have used some form of generative AI. It is the first time the company has openly noted a ballpark figure behind how many of their programs and movies have employed AI technology, and is a figure beyond anything most viewers had already assumed.

This is not all about generating posters or footage, but a sweeping production-wide revelation that includes pre-visualization, references used on set, visual effects, planning, world-building, crowd-creation and more. Essentially, as many expected, AI is not only coming but is already in place and doing things that no one even guessed.

“We are increasingly leveraging these tools to deliver higher-quality output more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional methods,” the company said in a shareholder letter (via Variety). “In some cases, productions would have had to leave out key shots and sequences in the absence of GenAI technology.”

Netflix Has Named Just a Couple of Titles That Have Used AI

Out of the 300-plus shows and movies that have incorporated AI into their workflow, Netflix was not in a rush to share all of the titles involved. They did, however, share a couple of examples where generative AI has been used to enhance, or in some places complete, work that would otherwise have not been done.

One title the company was happy to point to was the docuseries The American Experiment, which contains around 17 minutes of AI-enhanced footage. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the earnings call that the sequences “expanded the scope of the series that just wouldn’t have been feasible before” and that they were produced “twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options.” It is probably this last comment that will really make people sit up and take notice.

Netflix’s revenue for the quarter hit over $12.5 billion, a 13.4% increase year on year, resulting in net income of $3.4 billion. However, with rising costs, making cuts through the use of cheaper and quicker AI is always going to be a popular choice with shareholders. Investors may love the sound of this lower-cost, higher-profit opportunity, but not everyone sees it the same way.

AI Is Still a Major Concern in Hollywood

Actors, writers and crew have spent the past two years warning that generative tools will threaten the jobs of those working in certain areas. Crowd scenes that would have needed to employ thousands of extras or enlisted several visual effects artists to create can now be done with a few prompts and clicks, removing the need for all the people that would previously have been used. This also applies to the other areas that Netflix, and other companies, are clearly already implementing AI in.

Alongside the worries over jobs in the industry, there is also the impact that using the same generative AI tools could have on movies and TV shows over time. There have already been complaints that many blockbuster movies all “look like a Marvel movie,” so what happens when everyone starts using the same crowd creation tool to make their background actors, or when the same template is applied over and over to color grade a film? As the serpent eats its own tail, the output will continue to degenerate toward looking just the same as what came before it without there being some kind of new input that doesn’t just replicate older work.

For now, Netflix is presenting the 300 figure as a point of pride rather than something to be defensive about. The surprise shown by many at how many Netflix projects have already added some kind of AI content into them without anyone realizing is just another sign of the challenges facing the industry in the coming years.

(featured image: Netflix)

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