Netflix is already using generative AI in its original shows

Netflix admitted throughout its earnings name on Thursday that it used generative AI to create VFX in The Eternaut, a Netflix authentic from Argentina that was launched in April 2025. The corporate’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos mentioned that generative AI was particularly used for a VFX shot within the post-apocalyptic drama, however the transfer is one in every of a number of methods Netflix is embracing AI.In accordance with Sarandos, the creators of The Eternaut needed to incorporate a shot of constructing collapsing in Buenos Aires, and relatively than contract a studio of visible results artists to create the footage, Netflix used generative AI to create it. “Utilizing AI powered instruments, they had been in a position to obtain a tremendous end result with outstanding velocity,” Sarandos shared throughout the earnings name. “The truth is, that VFX sequence was accomplished 10 instances sooner than it might have been accomplished with… conventional VFX instruments and workflows.”The shot “simply would not have been possible for a present on that funds,” Sarandos says, as somebody with some enter on the present’s funds. The manager says that The Eternaut options “the very first Gen AI closing footage to look on display in a Netflix authentic sequence or movie.” Clearly, the present can be a prototype for the way Netflix can keep away from prices it does not need to swallow sooner or later.Employees within the leisure business haven’t taken kindly to the usage of generative AI. Labor strikes — together with the just lately resolved SAG-AFTRA online game strike — have made securing protections in opposition to AI a central concern. The Oscar-nominated movie The Brutalist got here underneath fireplace in 2024 for utilizing AI instruments throughout manufacturing. Past that, whether or not generative AI fashions had been illegally skilled on copyrighted materials remains to be an open query.Netflix plans to make use of generative AI to create advertisements for its ad-support Netflix subscription, and the corporate is reportedly testing a brand new search characteristic powered by OpenAI fashions. Utilizing generative AI in manufacturing might sound par for the course for an organization that is already invested, nevertheless it might assist to normalize a expertise that many creatives stay actively in opposition to.