Ben Affleck has confirmed that artificial intelligence played a significant role behind the scenes of his forthcoming Netflix thriller Animals — but he is not ready to reveal exactly where audiences will see its influence.
Speaking Wednesday at Bloomberg’s 2026 Screentime event, Affleck said he used AI “for lots of things” while making the movie. During his conversation with Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw, he argued that identifying those elements could interfere with the audience’s experience.
“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?” Affleck said.
He compared disclosing the technology’s specific uses to a magician explaining a trick before beginning a performance, including revealing that a bunny was hidden nearby or that someone in the audience was a plant.
“You know, it’s sort of ruined, right?” he said. “But yes, we did use it, and in fact, I thought it was a good example [of how to use AI ethically] because it’s a very human movie.”
Animals, which also features Gillian Anderson, Steven Yuen and Kerry Washington, will premiere on Netflix on Oct. 9.
Affleck’s case for AI in filmmaking
Affleck’s comments arrive amid his growing business ties to Netflix in the AI space. He sold his AI company, InterPositive, to the streaming service for nearly $600 million.
At the Screentime event, Affleck presented AI as another tool in the film and television production process rather than a system capable of independently creating compelling movies.
He said filmmakers’ concerns can begin to ease after they spend time working with AI tools and develop “a sense of control” over them. In his view, direct experience changes the technology from something that seems threatening and unknowable into something more practical.
AI then moves away from being a “nebulous, abstract, terrifying alien” surrounded by claims that “it’s going to kill us all,” he said, and users begin to understand what it actually is.
“It’s another form of computing … a technological advancement that’s really in keeping with the longstanding series of technological improvements we’ve made in the film and television business,” Affleck said.
However, he rejected the idea that AI will eventually allow someone to enter a prompt and automatically generate a movie that audiences genuinely want to watch. His description of Animals instead framed the technology as supporting a production that remains centered on human storytelling.
Setting the record straight on Netflix notes
Affleck also used the conversation to address a separate debate involving Netflix and The Rip, his movie with Matt Damon.
He pushed back on the notion that Netflix required the filmmakers to repeatedly explain the movie’s plot. Affleck said he and Damon appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast to make clear that their own experience with the streamer was “utterly contrary” to the interpretation of a Damon quote that circulated widely.
Affleck recalled the resulting summary as: “Matt Damon says Netflix makes you tell the plot in the first five minutes.” He argued that version did not make sense given his own involvement in the project.
“I’m in this movie, I’m directing,” Affleck said. “Even if that were true, do you think I would go on Joe Rogan and be like, ‘They made me put all this obvious shit in my movie’? Like, it doesn’t even make sense.”
Damon’s original comments on The Joe Rogan Experience contrasted a traditional action-movie structure with requests attributed to Netflix. He said the standard approach they had learned involved three set pieces — one in each act — with the biggest and most expensive sequence reserved for the third-act finale.
“Now, [Netflix is] like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?’” Damon said. “We want people to stay tuned in. And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.”
Affleck flatly rejected the suggestion that Netflix would issue such a directive.
“[Netflix] would never do that,” he said, adding that he had not encountered a note that “idiotic and brazen,” despite hearing about many questionable studio suggestions.
He also stressed that misguided executive feedback was not something that began with streaming. “Idiotic studio notes long predate Netflix,” Affleck said, describing the entertainment business as having a long history of executives giving filmmakers advice that could damage their movies.
For now, Affleck is offering a clear defense of both Netflix and AI-assisted production — while keeping the precise digital secrets inside Animals firmly under wraps until its Oct. 9 debut.