Ben Affleck's self-directed Netflix film "Animals" premiered on October 9, with post-production using tools built by his AI company InterPositive. Affleck publicly acknowledged that AI was used in several places but declined to say which shots, making him the first Oscar-level director to openly admit deep AI use in filmmaking. Reception was weak: Rotten Tomatoes critics' freshness stands at 33% and audience popcorn score at 42%, with a Metacritic score of 33, as reviewers called the narrative flat and muddled and the visuals cheap. Netflix acquired InterPositive for $587 million in March, with Affleck serving as senior adviser; the company says its models are not trained on unauthorized film works but on proprietary datasets shot in controlled studios, and that its tools adjust lighting and optical effects and remove some visual effects elements. Hollywood remains divided, with Martin Scorsese advising Black Forest Labs, Danny Boyle using generative AI for roughly 30 seconds of his new film and drawing boos, and Christopher Nolan voicing wariness of the technology.

InterPositive·Netflix·Ben Affleck·+5