Netflix’s Greg Peters says that artificial intelligence has officially passed the “super hype bump” of the technology adoption cycle.
“For almost two decades, we’ve been using machine learning in our recommender systems, those things which connect titles and members together. We’re excited about generative AI and what generative AI can do. It’s incredible to see the rate of growth of that technology,” the streamer’s co-chief executive told the Financial Times’ Business of Entertainment Summit on Friday.
“Having said that, for those of us who are actually using the technologies, we’re in that point of the technology adoption cycle where we’re past the super hype bump,” he continued. “Now people that are actually using it realize, ‘Wow, actually going from a demo to something that’s at scale in production and working in a high quality way is a lot of work and takes longer than you actually think it’s going to take.’”
In addition to leveraging AI for recommendations, Peters said that Netflix is working with creators globally to figure out how the technology can be used to allow them to tell their stories in more interesting and compelling ways.
“They’re really leading us and telling us what’s the state of the art and what’s working and what’s not,” he added. “But I’d say there’s a long road to go ahead of us before those things start to really take grip in a significant way.”
Peters’ comments on artificial intelligence come on the heels of Lionsgate striking a partnership with Runway AI to create tools for storyboarding and post-production. The agreement will create AI models based off the studio’s archive film and TV content and is “fundamentally designed to help Lionsgate Studios, its filmmakers, directors and other creative talent augment their work.”
During the same conference on Thursday, United Talent Agency CEO Jeremy Zimmer called the team-up “concerning for artists.” Some basic concerns from his clients include, “Is my work going to get stolen? Is my likeness going to get stolen? Is my job going to be replaced? Am I going to be replaced?”
“If I’m an artist and I’ve made a Lionsgate movie, now suddenly that Lionsgate movie is going to be used to help build out an LLM for an AI company, am I going to be compensated for that?” he questioned.
But Zimmer also sees an opportunity for AI to help creatives be “more efficient and thoughtful about the way we make shows and market shows and make movies and market movies,” which he said would be “really great for storytellers” within the right legal framework.
“I think there’s open-mindedness and thoughtful conversations taking place,” he conceded. “But how do we get there? Who gets there first, and whether the spirit of those conversations is truly open and honest and fair, we are not going to know for a bit.”
Zimmer further noted the complex dynamic between both protecting artists now who are concerned by artificial intelligence and nurturing artists — who he identifies as “AI endemic” — that utilize the tool within their work, saying, “If we try to stop progress, we get run over by progress.”
“If Steven Spielberg, today, were in high school at 14 … making his first film, he might be making it … using AI prompts, and we don’t want that guy to feel like, ‘Oh, sorry, you’re a criminal,’” Zimmer said. “We want that guy to be rewarded for his excellence in utilizing the tools that are available him today.”
Meanwhile, WME co-chair Richard Weitz praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom for recently signing two bills aimed at protecting performers’ likenesses from being replicated by AI, calling the guardrails the “best thing that can happen.”
“If you look at the estates of the deceased, whether it’s Elvis or whether it’s Marilyn Monroe, or any of the actors or persons that we’ve had, they’re going to be protected. They’re also going to be protected with their likeness and their voice,” Weitz said at the FT conference on Thursday. “There’s this Oprah Winfrey special I watched the other day on ABC that has all the titans of AI. And it is scary, of course, and they are admitting that it’s scary, but we have to embrace the change. We also have to make sure we’re protecting our clients.”
In addition to AI, Peters teased the company’s two upcoming Christmas Day NFL games, which will be treated as a singular event.
“We look at the two Christmas Day NFL games as more like an event kind of thing, where for one day football will be on Netflix,” Peters said. “Hopefully, those will be amazing games and we’ll all be talking about what’s going on there. And we plan to ‘Netflix-ify’ them a little bit, so we’ll plan to have a little bit of stuff around the games with our talent and stuff like that that will hopefully make it super-fun.”
He also said that the company would “love to” expand its sports portfolio with additional rights, but stressed that it has to be done in a way that “works for the business.”
“Those have been typically challenging deals to go do and make it work for the business,” Peters said. “We’re very much in a never say never, keep your mind open to how to do it and think creatively about it. And certainly we’re poking at the edges of that, so maybe we’ll figure out a way, but we haven’t figured
out a way yet. And a lot of the big rights deals are locked up for a while.”
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