“AI Won’t Take Your Job,” Says Netflix CEO

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says artificial intelligence (AI) will not replace “great” film industry creatives such as actors and writers just yet. According to the 59-year-old, an AI program is never going to write a better screenplay than a human.

Sarandos’ comments come as major tech companies race to develop supersmart AI systems that can outperform humans in most profitable work.

Also read: ‘AI Godfather’ Wants Universal Basic Income for Job Losses 

In the film industry, text-to-video AI models such as OpenAI’s Sora have left people on tenterhooks, with many worried the technology could leave them jobless.

Netflix CEO Believes AI Can’t Write Like a Human

“I don’t believe that an AI program is going to write a better screenplay than a great writer, or is going to replace a great performance, or that we won’t be able to tell the difference,” Sarandos told The New York Times in an interview.

“AI is not going to take your job. The person who uses artificial intelligence well might take your job,” he added.

Sarandos has been with Netflix for 24 years. He was appointed co-CEO in 2020, alongside company founder Reed Hastings. Hastings later stepped down as co-CEO to become Netflix’s executive chairman. Sarandos now serves as CEO together with Greg Peters, the company’s chief operating officer, who replaced Hastings in January 2023.

AI To Follow Past Tech Advances

According to the Times report, the Netflix co-chief executive believes that AI’s impact on the entertainment industry will not be any different from other past advances in technology.

“Remember how everybody fought home video? For several decades, the studios wouldn’t license movies to television,” Sarandos said. “So every advancement in technology in entertainment has been fought and then ultimately has turned out to grow the business. I don’t know that this would be any different.”

Hollywood Is Unsettled

AI has been a hot-button issue in Hollywood. Last year, creatives went on a strike that lasted five months, with writers worried artificial intelligence could take their jobs. Actors feared being replaced by the tech on set.

The strike ended with an agreement between studio owners and workers, but people like Tyler Perry are still concerned about the harm that newer technology, such as OpenAI’s Sora, could have on the film ecosystem.

Also read: ChatGPT Still Spreads Falsehoods, Says EU Data Watchdog

In February, Perry stopped the $800 million expansion of his studio in Atlanta, U.S., over concerns about Sora, which creates “realistic” videos from text prompts.

The filmmaker said he was “very, very concerned” that Sora could lead to the loss of “a lot of jobs” in the movie industry. He believes that “actors, editors, sound specialists, and transporters” could lose their jobs.

https://t.co/uCuhUPv51N pic.twitter.com/nej4TIwgaP

— Sam Altman (@sama) February 15, 2024

Perry isn’t the only one to raise the alarm on AI’s potential impact on jobs. Last week, billionaire Elon Musk told a tech conference that in the future, “probably none of us will have a job” because of AI.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund warns that 60% of jobs are threatened by AI in high-income nations, 40% in emerging economies, and 26% in low-income countries.

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Cryptopolitan Reporting by Jeffrey Gogo