Ben Afflecks AI company is sold for more than $500 million

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Set us as preferred Netflix has revealed just how big it is betting on artificial intelligence, shelling out more than half a billion dollars for one of the early AI movers in Hollywood.In March, the Los Gatos-based company announced it was acquiring Ben Affleck’s AI film tech company, InterPositive.A new securities filing shows that the streaming giant paid $587 million for the “Good Will Hunting” actor’s company.

The disclosure was made last week in a Netflix filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.InterPositive was founded in 2022, when Affleck began to worry about how AI could affect the film industry.The company is focused on developing “AI-powered tools built by and for filmmakers” and using new technology to “protect and expand creative choice,” according to Netflix’s news release in March.The streamer said it is “investing in creator-led innovation that keeps filmmakers at the center of the process” and that the tech will be exclusive to Netflix.Netflix declined to comment on the disclosure about the value of its acquisition.

Last week, during the company’s earnings call, Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos said its work with InterPositive is only beginning.“It’s early days for InterPositive, but we’re broadly seeing that [generative AI] is starting to have an impact across hundreds of our productions,” Sarandos said.Hollywood Inc.

Netflix stock declined 11% on Thursday morning, after investors raised concerns about Netflix’s future growth following its second-quarter earnings report.He said that roughly 300 productions currently use AI in their process.The company uses the technology mostly in postproduction processes and uses generative AI for “really complicated shots and sequences,” Sarandos said during the call.“We’re making higher quality output more qu...