Leading streaming platform Netflix has revealed that it has used visual effects created with the help of generative for the first time in one of its original TV series.

According to a BBC report, the AI technology was used in a scene in the Argentine science fiction series The Eternaut, which shows a building collapsing.

Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos said that using generative AI helped the production team complete the scene 10 times faster than traditional visual effects, and it was completed on a lower budget.

“This scene is actually the first time generative AI has been used in a Netflix original series,” said Sarandos. “The creators were very happy with the result.”

The use of generative AI in the film and TV industry has been a controversial issue, over concerns that it might use other people’s work without their permission and eliminate human jobs.

The technology was also a major controversy during the 2023 Hollywood strike, during which the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) called for stricter rules on the use of AI.

The announcement came at a time when Netflix reported a 16% increase in revenue to $11 billion for the three months to the end of June compared to the same period last year. The company’s profits also rose, from $2.1 billion to $3.1 billion.

The company said this improved performance was made possible by the success of the third and final season of the Korean thriller Squid Game, which has been viewed 122 million times so far.

Ted Sarandos stated that AI technology has given small-budget projects access to high-quality visual effects.

He said that if the building collapse scene in The Eternaut had been done traditionally, it would not have been possible within the budget.

Davier Yoon, co-founder of Singapore animation studio CraveFX, said Netflix’s adoption of generative AI is not surprising, as more large production companies are now open to the technology.

“It feels like a matter of time. AI definitely opens the gate to allow smaller studios to achieve big budget-looking visuals,” Yoon was quoted as saying in the report.

He added that ultimately it is the artist, not the AI, who decides what the final image will look like.