Ben Affleck sells his AI postproduction startup to Netflix

Announcing the InterPositive deal, the actor says he was moved from being scared of the technology to embracing it

Ben Affleck has sold his artificial intelligence company to Netflix in a surprise deal, saying he had been driven to embrace a technology that had initially “really scared” him.

Netflix has acquired the postproduction startup InterPositive from the Oscar-winning actor, director, producer and screenwriter for an undisclosed sum.

Affleck had kept InterPositive below the radar and had previously played down AI’s creative abilities. This year, he told the podcaster Joe Rogan he did not think the technology would be able to “write anything meaningful” or make films “from whole cloth”.

However, in a video announcing the transaction, the Good Will Hunting and Gone Girl actor said he had moved from being scared of AI’s potential impact when he first encountered the technology to viewing it as a “really meaningful innovation”.

Affleck said InterPositive did not provide video generation tools such as Google’s Veo3 or OpenAI’s Sora – it was “not about text prompting or generating something from nothing” – but instead helped in the post-production process.

InterPositive tools are trained on a film or TV production’s own footage, or dailies, and helps deal with issues such as reframing shots, adjusting incorrect lighting and removing the wires from stunt performers, said Affleck.

The media industry is warming to the idea of using AI for content and storytelling, in a significant pivot from Hollywood’s earlier concerns about the technology challenging creative jobs and intellectual property rights.

Late last year, Disney announced plans to allow OpenAI to use characters from the media and entertainment company’s Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel franchises in the Sora AI video generator.

Announcing the acquisition of InterPositive, Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, said: “We believe new tools should expand creative freedom, not constrain it or replace the work of writers, directors, actors, and crews.”

Last month, Netflix backed out of a high-stakes race to acquire Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming assets after Paramount Skydance’s rival bid was deemed as superior. Netflix had offered $82.7bn (£62bn).

Affleck, who directed the Oscar-winning film Argo, founded InterPositive in 2022 by creating an AI model trained to understand visual logic and editorial consistency, while maintaining cinematic rules under real-world production challenges such as missing shots or incorrect lighting.

“We also built in restraints to protect creative intent, so the tools are designed for responsible exploration while keeping creative decisions in the hands of artists,” He said.

Affleck will be joining Netflix as a senior advisor as part of the deal.