Netflix says around 300 titles have already used generative AI
Netflix says around 300 titles have already used generative AI, showing how quickly the technology is becoming part of mainstream film and TV production.
Generative AI is already being used across far more Netflix productions than many viewers may realise. The streaming company says around 300 titles have now used generative AI in some part of the production process, showing how quickly the technology is moving from experimentation into everyday filmmaking.
That does not mean Netflix has hundreds of films and series created entirely by AI. In most cases, the technology is being used as one tool within a much larger production involving writers, actors, directors, editors, visual-effects teams and other crew.
Some of the uses are relatively practical. Generative AI can help production teams create or alter visual effects, test ideas before expensive scenes are filmed, adjust backgrounds and speed up parts of post-production that previously required considerably more time.
Netflix has already publicly discussed using generative AI on individual productions. One widely reported example involved an effects sequence in the Argentine science-fiction series The Eternaut, where AI was used as part of creating a building-collapse shot.
The bigger development is the scale. Once hundreds of titles are using the technology somewhere in their workflow, AI stops looking like something reserved for experimental projects and starts becoming another production tool available to mainstream television and film teams.
For viewers, it may also become increasingly difficult to know when AI has been involved. A generated effect or altered background can appear alongside traditionally filmed material without necessarily being obvious on screen.
That is likely to keep the debate around transparency going. Some viewers and entertainment workers want clearer information about when generative AI is used, while studios are increasingly interested in whether the technology can reduce costs, speed up production or make previously difficult visual ideas achievable.
There is also a major difference between using AI to assist a visual-effects team and using it to replace performers, writers or other creative workers. As adoption increases, those distinctions are likely to become increasingly important when discussing what “made with AI” actually means.
Netflix’s figure gives a clearer picture of how quickly that change is happening. Generative AI may still dominate headlines when something unusual happens, but behind the scenes it is already becoming part of the production process on hundreds of mainstream titles.
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