Ben Affleck Sells His AI Startup Company to Netflix
Ben Affleck Sells His AI Startup Company to Netflix
Jack SmartThu, March 5, 2026 at 7:47 PM UTC
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Ben Affleck at the New York City premiere of 'The Rip' on Jan. 13Credit: Arturo Holmes/WireImage -
Netflix has acquired InterPositive, a filmmaking tech startup founded by Ben Affleck
The company uses artificial intelligence-powered post-production tools that will now be available to all Netflix filmmakers
“For artists to apply these tools towards telling the stories we dedicate our lives to, they need to be purpose-built to represent and protect all the qualities that make a great story,” said The Rip star in a statement
Ben Affleck continues to make innovation a central part of his mission in Hollywood.
The actor-filmmaker, 53, has sold his artificial intelligence-powered tech startup InterPositive to Netflix. The acquisition, per a Thursday, March 5 Netflix release, signals that the streamer is “investing in creator-led innovation that keeps filmmakers at the center of the process.”
The Oscar winner will serve as a senior advisor. Per Variety, InterPositive is made up of 16 engineers, researchers and creatives who will join Netflix, using the technology they’ve developed to assist with post-production on the streamer’s projects.
“In 2022, I spent a lot of time observing the early rise of AI in production,” said Affleck in a statement. “For artists to apply these tools towards telling the stories we dedicate our lives to, they need to be purpose-built to represent and protect all the qualities that make a great story.”
Ben Affleck in 2025Credit: BACKGRID
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InterPositive was founded, the Accountant star continued, because he “had a responsibility to my peers and our industry, to protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it.” The company trained AI models “focused on filmmaking techniques — rather than performances — creating tools that artists can use, control and benefit from,” he added.
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Netflix also released a video of Affleck in conversation with the streaming giant’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria and Chief Product and Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone. After “early versions of what was being done with generative AI video…. really scared me,” recalled the star, “what I learned pretty quickly was that that was a little bit of an illusion. It would often fall apart.”
Affleck added he was “was worried that this was a technology that was gonna grow outside of the ecosystem of filmmakers and artists. I saw what I thought was a real opportunity and a real authentic danger.”
With InterPositive’s technology, “You have to create your movie essentially first before you can really build your model around your movie using AI. And once you do that, you have your model, you control it.”
The news follows Affleck and his longtime collaborator and costar Matt Damon’s first-of-its-kind deal with Netflix, boosting pay for all crew members on The Rip, their action thriller that hit the streamer in January. The New York Times reported that all 1,200 people involved in the production will get a one-time bonus if it performs well on the streaming platform, which typically pays cast and crew only an upfront fee.
(Left-right:) Bela Bajaria, Ben Affleck, Elizabeth StoneCredit: Netflix/YouTube
Netflix’s acquisition of InterPositive comes a week after its exit from a bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and streaming businesses. Netflix opted to not make a counteroffer after Paramount Skydance upped its bid and subsequently secured a merger agreement.
In 2024, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos indicated the company was looking at AI as a tool for filmmaking talent rather than its replacement. “There’s a better business and a bigger business in making content 10% better than it is making it 50% cheaper,” he said at the time, per Deadline.
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