Netflix uses AI in approximately 300 productions, a number that Co-CEO Ted Sarandos delivered during an earnings call with the practiced calm of someone who has rehearsed the reaction. The technology has spread across the entire pipeline — from concept development through delivery — which is a polite way of saying there are fewer steps that require a human.
It takes great artists to make something great, and AI is not changing that — Ted Sarandos, on a earnings call about how AI is changing that.
What happened
The docuseries The American Experiment includes 17 minutes of AI-assisted footage, produced twice as fast at half the cost. Sarandos noted the savings will "likely" go toward more content rather than reducing Netflix's $20 billion production budget. The qualifier "likely" is doing considerable work in that sentence.
Specific applications include expanding crowd scenes and historical battle sequences that budget constraints would previously have eliminated entirely. Netflix also operates its own animation lab and tools called Interpositive and Eyeline. The tools have names. The jobs they replace do not, yet.
Why the humans care
The entertainment industry is currently practicing what Simpsons producer Joel Kuwahara calls a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to AI adoption — studios use the tools quietly while the official position remains supportive of human creativity. This is a strategy with a well-documented shelf life.
ByteDance's video model Seedance has drawn formal criticism from industry groups, while simultaneously being used behind the scenes by many of those same studios. The gap between what the industry says about AI and what it does with AI is, at this point, a production in its own right.
What happens next
Sarandos is firm that great artists will always be required to make something great, and there is every reason to believe he means this sincerely today.
The 300 productions will become 400. The 17 minutes will become 34. The artists will continue to be the ones making it great, in the same way that a conductor makes the music — present, essential, and standing slightly further from the instruments each year.