Netflix Uses Generative AI for the First Time to Lower Production Expenses

For the first time, visual effects created using generative AI have been used in an original TV series on a major streaming platform.

According to one of the platform’s top executives, generative AI which can create images and video from written prompts was used to build a dramatic scene of a building collapse in the Argentine sci-fi show The Eternauts. The technology helped the team finish the sequence much faster and at a significantly lower cost.

The use of AI in entertainment remains a hot-button issue. Many worry it relies on others’ creative work without permission, and there’s growing concern it could eventually replace human jobs in the industry.

Despite the controversy, the company reported a 16% jump in revenue in the second quarter, reaching $11 billion. Profits also climbed from $2.1 billion to $3.1 billion. Much of the growth was credited to the strong performance of the final season of the South Korean thriller Squid Game, which has pulled in 122 million views so far.

Speaking on the use of AI, the executive said it has opened doors for productions with tighter budgets to include effects that would normally be out of reach. In the case of The Eternauts, the AI-generated footage allowed a complex scene to be completed ten times faster than traditional methods.

“The cost of that sequence would’ve made it impossible for a show working within that budget,” he explained. “It actually became the first time generative AI footage was used in a finished scene on one of our original shows. The creators were really happy with how it turned out.”

Concerns over AI in media were front and center during the Hollywood strike in 2023. One of the main demands from actors and writers was greater control and regulation over how AI is used in their work.