Ben Affleck’s AI use in Animals remains largely unexplained: the director said the upcoming Netflix thriller used artificial intelligence in multiple ways but did not identify which parts. At Bloomberg’s 2026 Screentime event, he defended the use as ethical because he considers the film human, The Hollywood Reporter reports. IGN also covered the exchange.
AI use in Animals: what Affleck has disclosed
Affleck said he was hesitant to explain the process because filmmakers need audiences to accept what they see on screen. He compared naming the techniques to a magician revealing the hidden rabbit before the trick. The comparison does not explain which parts of production used AI.
“I used [AI] for lots of things in that movie. I’m a little bit hesitant to point out what they are — or even talk about it — because in my business, we’re trying to foster the illusion of reality, right?”
Ben Affleck, via The Hollywood Reporter
Affleck described AI as one of the technical changes that have shaped film and television. He also said he did not believe a user could type in a prompt and make a movie people want to see. Neither comment identifies what the tools did on Animals.
“It’s another form of computing that does tools and is a technological advancement that’s really in keeping with the longstanding series of technological improvements we’ve made in the film and television business.”
Ben Affleck, via The Hollywood Reporter
He did not identify a tool, a scene or a specific stage of production. His comments therefore do not establish that Animals contains AI-generated footage, nor do they show whether the technology was used for editing, visual effects or another task.
Affleck’s Netflix AI company is a separate question
Netflix acquired InterPositive, the AI filmmaking company Affleck founded, earlier this year. The Hollywood Reporter reported the deal at nearly $600 million; TechCrunch, citing Bloomberg, said the actual cash payment was lower, with additional payouts tied to performance targets.
The two facts do not establish that InterPositive’s software was used on Animals, and the AI use in Animals remains unspecified. TechCrunch describes the company’s tools as focused on post-production tasks such as continuity work, rather than generating new content. That describes InterPositive’s product, not the undisclosed process on Affleck’s film.
Affleck’s comments arrive amid a wider disagreement among filmmakers about what AI can contribute to creative work. Guillermo del Toro has argued that AI cannot replace human creativity, while Affleck described the unspecified use on Animals as ethical. Without knowing what the tools did or how they were used, viewers cannot assess that claim from his comments alone.
What Matt Damon actually said about Netflix
Affleck also pushed back on how Matt Damon’s comments about Netflix filmmaking notes were repeated online. During a January appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Damon described requests he attributed to Netflix: a major action sequence in the first five minutes and plot details repeated in dialogue for viewers watching on their phones. Damon warned that such notes could affect storytelling, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s account of the interview.
Damon described the kind of notes he attributed to Netflix; he did not say that he and Affleck had been given those instructions on The Rip. Affleck objected to the viral version that made the comments sound like a specific note on their film. He said Netflix would not make such a request and described that kind of studio note as extreme and long-established.
Affleck’s criticism targeted the claim that Netflix had asked the pair to repeat The Rip’s plot. Damon’s wider remarks concerned attention habits and the pressures they can put on action-film storytelling.
Animals arrives on Netflix UAE on 9 October, according to Netflix Tudum and tbreak’s October 2026 UAE schedule.
Will Animals also be released in cinemas?
Yes. Netflix’s official teaser lists Animals for release in select cinemas as well as on the streaming service on 9 October.
Who stars in Animals?
The cast includes Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez.
What is Animals about?
A Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife scramble to raise a ransom after their son is kidnapped, forcing choices that threaten their family and political future.
What details would help viewers assess Affleck’s claim that the AI use was ethical?
Viewers would need to know which tools and tasks were involved, where they were used, and what human review or safeguards applied. Affleck did not provide those details at the event.
