AI used on 300 Netflix titles, yet human creativity remains vital: Production executive

Netflix has used Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various capacities on around 300 titles, a senior production executive said at an industry discussion during the Busan International Film Festival, while emphasising that human creativity remains essential to filmmaking.

Sung Q Lee, Netflix's senior director of production for Asia-Pacific, said AI was being used at different stages of production, including pre-visualisation, production design, set-dressing concepts, editing and visual effects (VFX), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"AI is being used in previsualisation, production design, working out set-dressing concepts ahead of time, in editing and of course in VFX," Lee said. "But the question that matters to me isn't, 'How much AI can we put into this title?' but, 'What more can this title do with AI's help?'"

Lee was speaking at Netflix's annual Creative Asia event, held in partnership with the Busan International Film Festival, where a panel co-hosted with the Motion Picture Association also featured The Outlaws director Kang Yun-sung and Wētā FX chief technology officer Kimball Thurston.

The discussion explored AI's potential to reduce production costs while addressing concerns over human creative judgement, with Hollywood remaining cautious about the technology and parts of Asia's content industry viewing it as an opportunity.

Kang, who co-directed Run to the West with AI filmmaker Kwon Han-seul last year, said he remained optimistic about the technology despite the film's poor box-office performance. Billed as South Korea's first fully AI-assisted feature, the film earned around $100,000 amid criticism of its AI-generated visuals.

Kang said the rapid advancement of AI meant the film already looked somewhat dated by the time it was released. However, he believes the technology can expand the possibilities of screen storytelling.

The director is now working on an action film titled The Gulf of Aden, which makes extensive use of generative AI tools from Chinese company Kling AI.

He said the technology had enabled him to create scenes that would otherwise have been impossible because of budget constraints that had held back the Korean film industry.

Kang estimated that AI could reduce the film's production costs by around 40%.

"When we calculated how much we'd save on The Gulf of Aden for financing, it came to a reduction of around 40%," he said. "That's not just from replacing CG and VFX. The shoot itself was streamlined, and that cut down our production time to some extent."

He added, "What has been buried due to budgetary issues was able to be put back on the table."

Lee said AI should be viewed in the context of technological changes that have shaped filmmaking throughout its history. He argued that new tools could improve production without determining the stories filmmakers choose to tell.

"Technological changes and new tools have helped a great deal with the 'how', or how we make what we make better," he said. "But they never decided the 'why' – why we have to tell this story."

Emphasising the importance of human creativity, Lee added, "But when it comes to conveying emotion, ultimately, a human has to touch it. AI can get many jobs done, but does it touch human emotion? The human touch is critical and necessary."

Thurston described Wētā FX's current use of AI as "assistive AI", saying the technology was not allowed to alter the creative intent behind a project.

"It provides us – very fast – with the visual images and visualisation. So from the director's perspective or the cinematographer's perspective, it's very easy to identify the errors and correct them," he said.

"Our goal is to reduce simple, repetitive tasks," he added.