Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has revealed that the streaming giant is already using artificial intelligence across nearly 300 productions, describing the technology as a creative tool that enables filmmakers to tell “bigger, better stories” rather than simply reduce production costs.Speaking at Express Adda, hosted by Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group, Sarandos also singled out Indian creators, saying they have embraced AI more enthusiastically than filmmakers anywhere else in the world.Sarandos said Indian filmmakers see AI as an opportunity to create ambitious stories that would otherwise be impossible within existing budgets.“The embrace of AI by Indian creators has been much more aggressive than anywhere else in the world. We look at AI as a creator tool. Indian creators get very excited about AI because it gives them the opportunity to bring very ambitious storytelling to the screen when the resources are not there—something they otherwise could not do. That is the opportunity.”AI is already being used in 300 Netflix productionsAccording to Sarandos, AI has already found its way into hundreds of Netflix productions, helping filmmakers from the planning stage through post-production.“We have about 300 productions, and Glory is one of those productions that used AI tools to help the production along. We use AI for things like pre-visualisation, where it gives directors an opportunity to lay out and design very complicated, or sometimes very dangerous, shots, making sure they can film them faster, more safely and with fewer takes. We also use AI for post-production, which is a game changer considering how quickly these tools are developing.”He stressed that Netflix’s focus is not on replacing filmmakers or reducing budgets but on giving creators tools to realise more ambitious ideas.Story continues below this ad“I see it as a great opportunity to tell bigger, better stories. They have to be bigger and better. If AI is just a cost saver, that’s fine, but it won’t change anything. In fact, it could even be harmful if it doesn’t result in a better product. We want to give directors the opportunity to tell stories through AI that they otherwise couldn’t. It may be faster and cheaper, but if the end result isn’t better, none of those things matter.”ALSO READ: ‘I stayed at Salman Khan’s home for 6 months’: Pradeep Rawat got ‘too comfortable’ at GalaxyBen Affleck’s InterPositive enters NetflixSarandos also explained how AI could help tackle one of the most expensive aspects of filmmaking—pickup shoots and reshoots.“When you make a TV show or a film, almost 20 percent of the entire budget is spent on pickups and reshoots. You watch the finished film and realise there’s a scene missing that makes the ending make sense. So you have to call everybody back, rebuild the sets and bring the actors in again. Sometimes those actors have gained 20 pounds or shaved their heads, making it very difficult to recreate those scenes.”Story continues below this adSarandos said Netflix is now scaling technology developed by InterPositive, the AI filmmaking company founded by Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck, to help solve those challenges.“Right now, there’s an AI tool called InterPositive, which we acquired from Ben Affleck, and I’m partnering with him to bring this tool to scale. It enables filmmakers to use only the data from the film they’ve made. The AI is trained for filmmaking rather than on every film ever made, and it can create quick pickup shots using AI, almost like a visual effect. The audience shouldn’t be taken out of the experience—it has to look right, and it does. It works remarkably well.”He added that the technology gives filmmakers greater confidence that productions can be completed on schedule even if some shots cannot be filmed during principal photography.“We could know with great confidence that you can get it done in the allotted amount of time you’ve set aside to shoot the movie. And if you don’t, you have this as a fail-safe. That’s a great saving.”Story continues below this adAbout Ben Affleck’s InterPositiveNetflix announced the acquisition of InterPositive in March, bringing the startup’s engineers, researchers and creative team into the company, while Affleck joined the streamer as a Senior Advisor. Netflix later disclosed in an SEC filing that it paid approximately $587 million in cash for the acquisition, making it one of the company’s biggest investments in filmmaking technology.Founded by the Oscar winner in 2022, InterPositive was designed specifically for filmmakers rather than as a general-purpose generative AI platform. Instead of generating scenes from text prompts, its technology builds a bespoke AI model using footage from a film’s own production, enabling filmmakers to create missing pickup shots, correct continuity issues, relight scenes, remove stunt wires, replace backgrounds and make other post-production adjustments without compromising the project’s visual style.Netflix has said the technology is intended to expand creative choice while keeping filmmakers firmly in control of the creative process, rather than replacing writers, directors or artists.