Ben Affleck AI use on his Netflix thriller Animals is real, but the director says he would rather not spell out how the technology was used.
Speaking at Bloomberg’s Screentime event, Affleck said he used AI for “lots of things” on the film. He added that he is hesitant to list them because filmmakers work to create the illusion of reality. He compared it to a magician announcing the trick before the show starts.
The Ben Affleck AI debate comes as Netflix leans further into the technology. Affleck did not say which tools were used or which scenes were affected. Reports of the interview also noted that he did not confirm whether any AI-generated footage appears in the final cut.
Why Ben Affleck AI talk centers on a private dataset
Affleck has said he was uncomfortable with AI models trained on the work of other filmmakers. That is why his company, InterPositive, built its own training data instead, according to a transcript of the Screentime interview.
Netflix announced in March that it was buying InterPositive. An SEC filing in July showed the streamer paid $587 million in cash. Affleck’s comments do not confirm that InterPositive’s software was used on Animals.
For more on how studios and tech companies are pairing up, see our report on Google and A24’s AI partnership.
What to know about Animals
The Ben Affleck AI remarks arrive about a week before the film’s release.
Affleck directs and stars as a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped. Kerry Washington plays his wife, Abigail, and Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun also star, according to Netflix. Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray wrote the screenplay.
The film opens in select theaters and on Netflix on Oct. 9. Affleck’s longtime friend Matt Damon, who co-founded the production company Artists Equity with him, has also been in the news; read Matt Damon’s recent comments about Affleck. Also check what else is coming to Netflix in October.
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