In 2022, Ben Affleck became so obsessed with AI in film production that he quietly launched his own film technology company, InterPositive.
Netflix put the startup in the spotlight Thursday morning when it announced its full acquisition of the company. InterPositive's mission, which focuses on developing “AI-powered tools created by and for filmmakers” and using new technology to “protect and expand creative options,” will now be exclusive to Netflix. In a press release, the streamer said it is “investing in creator-led innovation that keeps filmmakers at the center of the process.”
Netflix said it will bring on board the entire InterPostive team and retain Affleck as a senior advisor as part of the acquisition.
“The InterPositive team joins Netflix because of our shared belief that innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them,” said Elizabeth Stone, chief product and technology officer at Netflix. “InterPositive's impressive technology is designed specifically for filmmakers and showrunners to work with tools that naturally support their creative visions and the way they want to bring them to life.”
Before founding his company, Affleck, best known for films such as 2012's “Argo,” “Pearl Harbor” (2001) and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016), said he noticed all the ways AI technology was falling short in the production space.
Upon launching InterPositive, the 53-year-old actor said he wanted to continue “telling stories in a human way.” So he teamed up with a group of engineers to develop a proprietary data set on a controlled sound stage, similar to a full production, and began building his first AI model.
He said the model is “trained to understand visual logic and editorial consistency, while preserving cinematic rules under real-world production challenges like missed shots, background replacements, or incorrect lighting,” all while “keeping creative decisions in the hands of the artists.”
Affleck's AI deal with Netflix comes at a time when much of Hollywood is critical of the technology and skeptical of the biggest companies in the industry.
SAG-AFTRA, the actors union of which Affleck is a member, is negotiating a new contract with major studios and proposing new AI provisions designed to protect human talent. A handful of Hollywood studios recently sent legal threats to Chinese technology company ByteDance over unauthorized use of copyrighted materials in its new AI video platform, Seedance 2.0.
