Netflix has acquired InterPositive, an artificial intelligence startup founded by Ben Affleck, marking a rare purchase for the streaming giant as it expands its investment in filmmaking technology.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. As part of the deal, InterPositive’s entire 16-person team, including engineers, researchers, and creative specialists, will join Netflix. Affleck himself will remain involved as a senior adviser, offering guidance as the company integrates the technology into its production ecosystem.
Unlike many high-profile AI platforms currently being developed in Hollywood, InterPositive is not designed to generate films or scenes from written prompts. Instead, the technology focuses on assisting filmmakers during postproduction by analyzing footage already shot during production.
Affleck founded the Los Angeles–based startup in 2022 and kept the company largely under wraps while it developed its tools. According to the actor and filmmaker, the idea emerged after observing the rapid rise of AI systems in film production and concluding that most available tools were not built with filmmakers’ needs in mind.
The InterPositive platform creates an AI model based on a film or television production’s dailies, the raw footage shot during filming. That model can then be used to assist with postproduction tasks such as color grading, lighting adjustments, visual effects, and shot corrections. The technology can also help filmmakers maintain visual continuity when dealing with practical issues like missing coverage, inconsistent lighting, or background replacements.
Affleck emphasized that the system is designed to support the creative process rather than replace it. Speaking in a video released by Netflix alongside the acquisition announcement, he said the project was created to preserve the human decision-making that lies at the center of filmmaking.
According to Affleck, storytelling ultimately depends on artistic judgment, a skill that develops through years of experience. While AI can assist with technical processes, he argued that it cannot replicate the creative instincts of directors, cinematographers, and editors.
Netflix executives echoed that perspective in statements accompanying the announcement. Bela Bajaria said the company believes technological innovation should expand creative freedom rather than diminish the role of artists. Bajaria described InterPositive’s tools as a way to give filmmakers more control over how their projects are completed.
Similarly, Elizabeth Stone said many existing AI video tools are not built from the perspective of working filmmakers. She noted that InterPositive’s system was specifically designed to fit within established production workflows rather than replacing them.
Netflix plans to make the technology available to filmmakers and showrunners working with the company, but does not intend to sell the platform commercially. Instead, it will function as an internal creative tool offered to Netflix’s production partners.
The acquisition comes during a period of heightened debate about artificial intelligence across the entertainment industry. AI tools have become a major issue for writers, actors, and filmmakers, particularly during the Hollywood labor disputes of 2023, when unions sought contractual protections against the use of generative AI in film and television production.
By emphasizing that InterPositive focuses on assisting filmmakers rather than generating new content independently, Netflix appears to be positioning the technology as a collaborative tool rather than a replacement for creative labor.
The deal also arrives shortly after Netflix withdrew from a potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The streaming company had briefly been involved in a bidding process related to the media conglomerate before stepping aside when Paramount Skydance increased its offer.
While Netflix has historically expanded by building technology internally rather than acquiring companies, executives said InterPositive offered a specialized system that aligned closely with the company’s philosophy about creative innovation.
Affleck said the startup began by filming its own proprietary dataset on a controlled soundstage designed to replicate the conditions of a real film production. The goal was to train AI models that understood how cinematographers and directors actually work, including the unpredictable challenges that arise during filming.
The system was designed to interpret visual logic, lens behavior, and editorial continuity while allowing filmmakers to make final creative decisions. According to Affleck, safeguards were also built into the platform to ensure that creative control remains firmly in the hands of artists.
Affleck said he believes the partnership with Netflix will allow the technology to reach a wider community of filmmakers while preserving the artistic principles that guided its development.
“We need tools that protect the human side of storytelling,” Affleck said in the announcement. “I couldn’t be happier for this work to continue with Netflix and for the creative community to explore what we’ve built.”
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