Startups & Funding
Netflix acquires AI filmmaking startup InterPositive
Netflix has acquired InterPositive, an AI filmmaking technology company founded by Ben Affleck, to enhance its post-production capabilities while keeping creative decisions human-led.
On Thursday morning, Netflix announced its acquisition of InterPositive, a filmmaking technology company founded in 2022 by actor Ben Affleck. While the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the deal marks a step in Netflix’s integration of artificial intelligence into its production pipeline. As part of the acquisition, Affleck will join Netflix as a senior adviser to help guide the integration of the technology.
InterPositive does not develop AI actors or synthetic performances, drawing a clear line between automation and human performance. Instead, the startup focuses on post-production—the phase of filmmaking after principal photography—by building tools to assist production teams with editing footage. Its technology helps address continuity issues, make lighting adjustments, and enhance environments using a model trained to understand visual logic and editorial consistency.
Affleck began thinking about how AI would impact the future of filmmaking in 2022, seeking to preserve human judgment and protect human creativity. The startup’s intensive research and development led to its first model, which was trained to understand visual logic and editorial consistency while preserving cinematic rules under real-world production challenges like missing shots, background replacements, or incorrect lighting. The company also built in restraints to protect creative intent, ensuring that the tools are designed for responsible exploration while keeping creative decisions in the hands of artists. Affleck emphasized that these restraints are intended to ensure that the benefits of the technology flow directly back to the story the artists are trying to tell.
The acquisition aligns with Netflix’s existing strategy of using generative AI for special effects in some of its original content. Elizabeth Stone, Netflix’s chief product and technology officer, explained that the company’s approach to artificial intelligence has consistently focused on meaningfully serving the needs of both the creative community and its members. “The InterPositive team is joining Netflix because of our shared belief that innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them,” Stone said.
Why it matters
The acquisition aligns with Netflix’s strategy of leveraging generative AI in filmmaking for post-production tasks like continuity and lighting, while emphasizing human-led creative decisions.