As part of Netflix’s second-quarter earnings report, the streamer announced that it was integrating generative AI into more of its productions, claiming that AI has been used in roughly 300 Netflix shows and movies in 2026 so far.
On Thursday, Netflix shared a letter with its shareholders filled with information about how well the company was doing, how much money it was making, and so forth. It also dedicated a whole section of the letter to bragging about how Netflix is “increasingly” using AI tools in the production of shows and movies, like The American Experiment and Brasil 70: A Saga do Tri. The company seems super excited about how these genAI tools will let it produce more content faster and cheaper than ever before. Yay, more slop!
“We are increasingly leveraging these tools to deliver higher quality output more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional methods,” said Netflix in the shareholder letter. “In some cases, productions would have had to leave out key shots and sequences in the absence of GenAI technology.”
Netflix says that AI is now fully integrated into many different projects and is used from the concept stage, through pre-visualization, filming, and post-production. The company says genAI is mostly used in post-production across the 300 or so shows and movies using it in 2026.
Netflix says that in shows like The American Experiment, genAI tools “enhanced crowds, historical battle sequences, and worldbuilding establishing shots.” It also claims that “in some cases, productions would have had to leave out key shots and sequences in the absence of GenAI technology.” I’m not sure if it means this is because the shots were literally impossible without AI (doubtful) or because they would have cost too much and Netflix is in penny-pinching mode (believable). Either way, it’s clear that Netflix is fully embracing AI to help it pump out more slop to keep subscribers paying more and more each month.
AI is also working its way into the app itself, with Netflix explaining that it will use LLMs and AI to “improve title discovery” and “better understand member preferences.” The company also claims AI will make search better, too. What can’t AI do? Well, be a profitable technology that actually provides accurate and consistent results without destructive data centers powering it all, for one thing.
