Generative AI is gradually gaining a foothold, even in professional productions. As Co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced during an investor Q&A, an AI-generated sequence can currently be seen for the first time in a Netflix original production (literally: "that sequence actually is the very first GenAI final footage to appear on screen in a Netflix original series or film"). It was of course only a matter of time before it got to this point, but this is also another kind of AI milestone. However, the AI-generated frames only make up a tiny fraction of the series.
El Eternauta
For example, there is a shot in the Argentinian SF series *El Eternauta* showing a collapsing building in Buenos Aires (in episode 6, 59:52). This VFX sequence was created with "AI-based" tools, according to Sarandos in about a tenth of the time it would have taken with traditional methods. Interestingly, the Netflix-owned Eyeline Studios apparently played a leading role in the implementation of the sequence, which is intended to drive innovation - yes, even disruption - in production techniques.
Of course, the use of AI was and is mainly associated with lower costs. As Sarandos emphasizes, a series production like *El Eternauta* would normally not have been able to finance such effects for budgetary reasons. So while only high-priced productions have been able to afford advanced VFX techniques such as de-aging, this is now also possible for smaller budgets thanks to AI. But not only in visual effects, but also in previsualization and shot planning, Netflix (and elsewhere) is already saving time and money with AI.
The production *El Eternauta* is based on a graphic novel from 1957 - Buenos Aires is haunted by a deadly snow and aliens - and relied heavily on virtual shooting techniques with LED walls, as some featurettes show: (
also with German subtitles on Netflix)
Here is the trailer for the series:
Bild zur Newsmeldung:
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