Netflix paid $587 million in cash to acquire Ben Affleck’s AI startup InterPositive, according to a regulatory filing from the streamer on Friday.
“In March 2026, the Company completed an acquisition which was accounted for as a business combination for a total purchase price of approximately $587 million, consisting of cash consideration,” the filing states.
Though InterPositive is not directly named, the deal to acquire the company was announced by Netflix in March. Financial terms were not disclosed at the time, though reports pegged the value of the deal at up to $600 million.
The InterPositive deal expanded Netflix’s suite of AI-powered tools for filmmakers, with the former’s team of engineers, researchers, creatives and producers integrated directly into the streamer. As part of the agreement, Affleck serves as a senior advisor.
Netflix previously said that InterPositive’s proprietary AI model and features would work with tools offered by the streamer’s third-party partners and in-house tech unit Eyeline.
In order to protect creators, InterPositive’s model is trained solely on dailies from a specific film or television production to ensure the output is relevant. The tools can be used on any live-action film or TV show during the production or post-production process to address challenges such as replacing missing shots, reframing existing shots, correcting lighting and replacing or enhancing backgrounds.
“It’s not text to video prompts, but rather tools that fit into real production workflows and respect the artistic intent that’s behind the story,” Netflix chief technology and product officer Elizabeth Stone previously told TheWrap. “It’s really anchored in the story that the director is telling and it’s tailored to that specific production, which is really what allows the controllability and consistency that can be very hard to get with other AI models and tools. So the creator is able to very flexibly iterate, adjust and refine shots using their own production’s data.”
During Netflix’s second-quarter earnings call, executives revealed that generative AI workflows have been used in roughly 300 of Netflix’s titles in 2026, with the largest concentration of work in post-production.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told analysts that the technology is specifically being used for complicated shots and sequences, such as to enhance crowds or historic battle scenes.
“In many of the cases, productions would have left out those key shots because they just wouldn’t have been able to afford them. They wouldn’t have been able to do them in the time frames that they’re working on,” he said. “So those sequences are saved by the availability and access to these GenAI tools.”
The company said it would continue to leverage AI to provide a more personalized, immersive and interactive experience for members and enhance ads capabilities for brands and improve the quality of its series and films.
“We believe it takes great artists to make something great, and AI is not changing that. AI will give creatives better tools to bring their visions to life,” Sarandos emphasized. “Movies are being made by people who make movies. AI provides them with better tools to make them even better.”
“By equipping creators with these tools, we believe they’re going to enhance their abilities, and we are going to have better and more impact for every dollar we spend on our programming. So, content creation timelines can be shortened and quality can be enhanced,” he continued. “The cost savings will likely be reinvested into more content on the service, which fuels high-quality engagement, and that whole kind of revenue-profit flywheel that’s going to come from that that we’ve been talking about from day one.”
