Netflix says it used generative AI in sci-fi show, and plans to introduce interactive ads
Netflix has admitted that it used generative AI to create a scene in its sci-fi show, The Eternaut. The streaming service's Co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, said the AI-powered VFX helped finish the sequence 10x faster compared to those done with regular workflows.
He also justified the use of the AI by saying the cost of it (creating a real version) wouldn't have been feasible for a show on that budget. You can watch the earnings call video (31:30), or read the transcript on Netflix's website.
The AI content in question is about 2 or 3 seconds long, I've seen the video, it shows a building collapsing, and the visual effects are unremarkable. You can watch it in Episode 6 of The Eternaut Season 1, at around the 60-minute mark. Who cares about a 2-second scene? It's not about the duration, but the fact that a premium streaming service is using AI instead of work done by real artists.
It's quite surprising that Netflix talked about using AI openly, perhaps they wanted to avoid bad press as opposed to someone finding it and started spreading news about it. Or, maybe the company is embracing generative AI by admitting it to their investors, and this is a sign we can expect more of it.
Using AI to add special effects for videos is debatable, it's either AI-generated or CGI, both are fake, right? When a talented graphics/animation designer works on CGI, the results are usually breathtaking. The same could be achieved in AI with the help of the designer, but when you remove the human element from it, that's unethical, regardless of how you paint it. Why not use a miniature set for the VFX?
The fact that Netflix said the use of AI saved costs is laughable. What next, "We are just a startup?" Take a look at this chart from the earnings call. Netflix earned $11 Billion in Q2, 2025, which was a 15.9% increase year-over-year growth.
That's a new record in revenue. They have only made about $21.5 Billion in the past six months alone, and they needed to cut some costs and use AI for that 2-second footage.
Now that AI is saving you the cost, how about lowering those subscription prices? Their strategy is remorseless. Increase the subscription prices, throw ads into the cheapest tiers (more revenue from advertisers + force people to get ad free plans), remove password sharing to get even more subscriptions, and now they want to start using AI to cut the costs.
Netflix plans to show generative AI ads in streams next year, and wants to introduce interactive ads (that appear when you pause a video) in the second half of 2025.
The worst thing about this is it's just the start, you bet they'll use AI to make even more money, and fire people, chalk that up as cost-cutting too.
Netflix says it is thrilled with the result of using generative AI, and claims that the audience were as well. Are you? Is this what you are paying for?
Funny. Piracy is a service problem… that is a fact.
I don’t really pirate games on PC because I prefer supporting developers and also the game stores are more convenient and offer better service than pirating the games. yet here we are with Streaming services that don’t really offer any better service than pirates. I spend more time scrolling to find something every remotely interesting, streaming services frequently raise prices, drop content or in netflix’s case paywalls conjtent to pricing tiers. On pirates sites I can find exactly what I want.
“Take a look at this chart from the earnings call. Netflix earned $11 Billion in Q2, 2025, which was a 15.9% increase year-over-year growth.”
. . . which is exactly the reason I continue “harping” and saying, “Buy NFLX; it will pay for your yearly subscriptions (ad free), treats for the family, and the Internet/mobile phone bill.
Get real . . . “In short, if AI can do your job better (or much cheaper) than you can, you should assume it will be used, and you had best try to get ahead of the process in whatever way you can.”
{Herman Cost}
Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate’s life for me!
We pillage, we plunder we rifle and loot
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
Sorry, what was this article even about? (hic!)
Trying to prevent the use of AI to keep people employed will work about as well as it did in the 19th century for the Luddite textile workers who opposed the use of automated machinery in England. For better or for worse (and history says it will mostly be for the better in the long term), efficiency gains from technology sometimes be slowed for a short time but rarely if ever can be halted. The brilliant Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter figured this out over 100 years ago and termed the process “creative disruption”. Of course, he also thought it would undermine and destroy the capitalist system, and, to date anyway, he has been wrong about that.
In short, if AI can do your job better (or much cheaper) than you can, you should assume it will be used, and you had best try to get ahead of the process in whatever way you can.
The fool and his gold parted ways. Keep subscribing and it will only get worst.
Netflix does not care anymore. They believe, and I agree with them begrudgingly, that they are untouchable and reached almost monopolist status. They will increase prices or triple the ads, and 99% of their regulars will not even think to unsubscribe. They are at this point Microsoft or Google of streaming.
I am paying for the 1080p with no ads.
So are you saying that only the 4k subscription will be
with no ads?
The cheapest one with ads is $8.00.
CT