Netflix's 96% sci-fi show under scrutiny for using sci-fi style tech to make it

Netflix has admitted that one of its hit shows – with a 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes – used AI in the creation of one of its scenes.

Its co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, explained that due to its relatively low budget, it was necessary for The Eternaut to use artificially intelligence to build the effects for a specific section of the show.

The Argentine sci-fi series has proved to be hugely popular for the streaming service, which also recently revealed a 16% rise in revenue in the previous quarter, raking in $11 billion. Sarandos though explained that the show could not have created the scene without the use of AI.

"The cost of it just wouldn't have been feasible for a show in that budget," he said as part of Netflix's latest earnings announcement (via BBC).

"That sequence is actually the very first AI final footage to appear on screen in a Netflix original series or film. So the creators were thrilled with the result."

Generative AI was used to create the collapse of a building in Buenos Aires. The process is claimed to have been completed 10 times quicker than if the studio used conventional effects tools.

The implications though, aren't great.

While AI can help smaller film and TV makers realise their dreams, Sarandos' comments will be worrying for an industry already troubled about its future use.

The Hollywood strikes of 2023 were partly due to its potential use in the creation of future movies and shows, with actors and their unions calling for tighter regulation.

Google also extolled the wizardry of its Veo 3 platform during Google I/O in May, showing how easy it is to create not just short clips but entire sequences. And this will further worry animators and other industry creatives on their own futures.

But on the other hand, if it allows low budget studios that would otherwise not be able to create programming for a wider audience, then surely there's a place for it when used responsibly?

I suspect this argument is only getting started.