Netflix Offers AI Position as Actors and Writers Strike Continues

Is there any end in sight for the ongoing Hollywood strikes? It appears that major corporations are preparing for a prolonged conflict, as evidenced by Netflix’s recent job advertisement for a machine learning platform product manager. This position offers a yearly salary ranging from $300,000 to $900,000, while many actors earn only $200 per day under the SAG-AFTRA contract. The role of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of entertainment is a crucial point of contention for both sides involved in the strike.

The job listing indicates that AI will be used to “create good content” and not just develop new algorithms to recommend shows and movies. The post also refers to the streaming giant’s far-reaching effort to integrate AI “across all areas of business.” The company’s website has a separate section that says Netflix uses AI to “optimize the production of original movies and TV shows.”

This isn’t the company’s only AI job posting promising a gigantic payday. Netflix is also hiring a CTO of generative AI for its growing game studio, which will pay up to $650,000 a year, as reported by The Intercept. These efforts are already bearing fruit, with Netflix currently airing a Spanish reality dating series called Deep Fake Love that scans contestants’ faces to create AI-generated “deepfakes,” and its game studio uses creative AI to compose stories and dialogue.

This all came after Striking Actors rejected a proposal by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that generously offered workers a one-time $200 daily rate to have the performers scanned for future use as AI-enhanced CGI simulacra forever, until the end of time. SAG-AFTRA says the company “would own that scan, their image, their likeness, and could use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want without consent or compensation.”