Netflix lists AI jobs worth $900,000 amid two Hollywood strikes

As actors and executives battle over the future of artificial intelligence in Hollywood, the company is listing high-paying machine learning project management positions.

As actors and screenwriters fight for fair pay and protection from AI violations, Netflix has listed machine learning product manager positions that will be compensated between $300,000 and $900,000 per year. According to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-Aftra), 87 percent of its actors earn less than $26,000 a year.

The use of artificial intelligence in film and television production, such as writing scripts, creating caricatures of actors, or performing creative work for payment, is one of the main points of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and SAG and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Is. Writers have been on strike since May. The cast joined earlier this month. The first general strike since 1960 threatens to bring Hollywood to a complete standstill.

The role, first reported by The Intercept, is a new role to "expand the use of our machine learning platform" and is being touted as "the foundation of all this innovation." The job lists vague qualifications related to machine learning, but points to the company's broad goals for AI in "all areas of business." A separate "machine learning" section on the company's website says the company uses artificial intelligence to "shape its catalog of movies and TV shows by learning the characteristics that make content successful" and "optimize movie production." and original TV programs" will use.

This isn't the only new position Netflix is ​​looking into with AI. The company is also looking to hire a technical director of artificial intelligence at the game studio for up to $650,000 a year, The Intercept reported. Generative AI can generate text, images, and videos from input data that can be used to create original content or for advertising purposes.

The artificial intelligence efforts of this company are already bearing fruit. Earlier this month, Netflix premiered its new Spanish reality dating series. The series used facial and body scans of participants to create "fake deep" simulations of themselves, and the company's games division used artificial intelligence to generate narration and dialogue.

Disney also listed several machine learning-related positions, but did not disclose salary ranges. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said on a recent earnings call that calls for more pay for actors and writers are "unrealistic" and that the company may struggle to integrate artificial intelligence into its business model. It indicated a potential problem. Journalist Li Fang reported: "In fact, we are already starting to use artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and ultimately better serve our consumers."

But it is clear that AI will be very disruptive and very difficult to manage, especially from an intellectual property management perspective.

Notably, Duncan Crabtree Ireland, Sag Aftra's chief negotiator, said the studio "can scan their background artists, get paid for a day and have their scans, images and likenesses sent to the company." We proposed that you own it and allow it to be used permanently in any project we want without consent or compensation.”

AMPTP protested that this description was a "misrepresentation" of a proposal aimed at "gathering support for a work stoppage".