Remember when streaming was going to "save" the entertainment industry?
Yeah, that worked out great for writers, actors, and crew members who watched their residuals evaporate. Now Netflix is going "all in" on generative AI, and if you work in visual effects, set design, or wardrobe, you might want to pay attention to what's actually happening here.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos just declared the company is fully committed to generative AI during their Q3 earnings call. While he's dropping the usual "AI helps creators" talking points, Netflix has already been quietly deploying the tech across multiple productions. Not testing it. Not experimenting. Actually using it in final footage that millions of people are watching.
Here's what they're really doing, what the numbers tell us, and which entertainment jobs are about to get a lot more competitive.
What Netflix Actually Said (And What It Means)
During Netflix's Q3 2025 earnings report, Ted Sarandos made the company's position crystal clear: "We're confident that AI is going to help us and help our creative partners tell stories better, faster, and in new ways."
Notice the magic words there? "Better, faster, and in new ways." That's corporate speak for "cheaper, with fewer people." But Sarandos tried to soften the blow with some reassurance about human creativity: "It takes a great artist to make something great. AI can give creatives better tools to enhance their overall TV/movie experience for our members, but it doesn't automatically make you a great storyteller if you're not."
Cool story, bro. Except here's what's actually happening right now at Netflix:
"The Eternaut" (Argentine series): Used generative AI to create an entire building collapse scene in the final cut. Not pre-viz. Not concept art. The actual footage viewers saw was AI-generated.
"Happy Gilmore 2": Applied AI technology to age-reduce characters in opening scenes. This is work that visual effects artists have been doing for decades - remember Benjamin Button? That required teams of VFX specialists. Now it's an AI tool.
"Billionaires' Bunker": Leveraged AI for pre-production wardrobe and set design visualization. Tasks that traditionally required costume designers, set designers, and concept artists sketching and planning for weeks.
And this is just what Netflix is publicly admitting to. This is the tip of the iceberg, not the whole thing.
Why This Announcement Matters
Netflix isn't some scrappy startup testing bleeding-edge tech. This is a $164 billion company that produced 475+ original shows and movies in 2024. They're an industry leader - when they go "all in" on something, every other studio and production company watches closely.
The company just reported $11.5 billion in Q3 revenue (17% year-over-year growth). They're profitable. They're growing. This isn't desperation cost-cutting. This is a successful company that sees an opportunity to get even more efficient by reducing human labor costs.
And here's the really fucked up part: The technology actually works now. Three years ago, AI-generated footage looked like shit. You could spot it immediately. Now? Netflix is comfortable putting it in final productions that 200+ million subscribers are watching. That's not a small thing.
The entertainment industry has been fighting over AI for two years. The 2023 WGA strike specifically addressed AI concerns. The SAG-AFTRA strike included protections against AI replacement. But all those agreements focused primarily on writers and actors - the visible, unionized talent with negotiating power.
VFX workers? Largely non-union. Concept artists? Freelancers. Set designers? Many are contractors. These are the roles Netflix is already automating, and they don't have the same protections that writers and actors fought for.
The Real-World Impact: Who's Actually Getting Replaced
Let's talk about the specific jobs Netflix is already using AI to handle:
Visual Effects Artists: Building collapse scenes, aging/de-aging characters, environmental effects. These are bread-and-butter VFX tasks that employ thousands of artists. When Sarandos says AI helps create effects "faster," he means with fewer artists doing less work. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association) represents studios that collectively employ 20,000+ VFX artists. If AI can reduce that need by even 20%, that's 4,000 jobs.
Concept Artists and Set Designers: Pre-production visualization has traditionally required teams of artists creating sketches, paintings, and 3D mockups for months before filming starts. AI can now generate hundreds of set design options in hours. Netflix using it for "Billionaires' Bunker" wardrobe and sets means fewer artists getting hired for pre-production work.
Costume Designers (Junior Level): While lead costume designers are safe for now, the junior designers and assistants who do the bulk of rendering, color exploration, and variation work? Their roles are getting compressed.
The timing is especially brutal. The VFX industry is already struggling - major studios like DNEG and Framestore have been laying off artists throughout 2024-2025. Now the largest streaming platform is publicly committing to using AI more, not less. Every VFX house bidding for Netflix work knows they need to integrate AI to stay cost-competitive.
And it's not just Netflix. The same week Sarandos made this announcement, OpenAI released Sora 2 (their text-to-video AI tool) without guardrails to prevent deepfakes of actors. The SAG-AFTRA union immediately lost their shit, calling it a direct threat to performers. The message from tech companies and studios is becoming clear: AI integration is happening whether unions like it or not.
What This Means for the Industry
This isn't a Netflix-only problem. This is a "Netflix just gave everyone else permission" problem.
When the industry leader publicly commits to generative AI and starts showing it works in actual productions, every other studio and production company faces pressure to adopt the same tech. Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount - they're all watching Netflix's stock price (which, by the way, has been performing well despite the Hollywood strikes and content slowdowns).
The math is simple and brutal:
- Traditional VFX shot: $5,000-$50,000+ depending on complexity, requires team of artists, takes weeks
- AI-generated VFX shot: $500-$5,000, requires one supervisor and AI tool, takes hours-days
Even if AI-generated content requires human cleanup and refinement (which it currently does), you're still talking about 70-80% reduction in labor costs and time. That's the kind of efficiency gain that CFOs dream about and workers get fucked by.
The entertainment industry employs approximately 2.7 million people in the US alone. Not all those jobs face AI threat - actors, directors, cinematographers, sound designers are relatively safe for now. But the post-production pipeline? Concept and pre-production art? Those sectors employ hundreds of thousands of people, and they're directly in the crosshairs.
What You Can Do If You Work in Entertainment
If you're in VFX, concept art, set design, or any post-production role that involves creating or manipulating digital content, here's the real talk:
Short term (1-2 years):
- Learn the AI tools. Seriously. Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Runway, Sora - whatever your studio is adopting, you need to know it better than the next person. The jobs aren't disappearing instantly, but they're shifting to "AI supervisor" roles. Be that supervisor.
- Specialize in what AI sucks at. Character work, subtle emotion, complex interactions, anything requiring deep context and nuanced decision-making. AI can generate a building collapse, but it still struggles with making characters feel human.
- Build your network now. When positions start drying up, the people who get the remaining jobs are the ones everyone wants to work with.
Medium term (2-5 years):
- Consider moving upstream. Production design, art direction, creative supervision - roles that require taste, judgment, and client/director communication. AI won't replace the person making creative decisions, just the people executing those decisions.
- Diversify beyond entertainment. Your VFX skills transfer to gaming, advertising, architectural visualization, and tech. Don't put all your eggs in the Hollywood basket.
- Union up if possible. The Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) and BECTU in the UK are starting to address AI concerns. Collective bargaining is the only real leverage workers have.
Real talk: If you're a junior VFX artist doing primarily roto, paint cleanup, or compositing basic elements, your job is in the danger zone. AI is already good enough to do 70-80% of that work. Either skill up to complex shots or pivot to supervision/creative roles where you're directing the AI rather than competing with it.
The Bottom Line
Netflix just told you exactly what's coming. They're not experimenting with AI or cautiously testing it. They're "all in." They're using it in production right now. And they're a profitable, growing company - meaning this isn't about survival, it's about maximizing margins.
Every other entertainment company is watching. If Netflix successfully reduces production costs and maintains quality (which, based on their subscriber numbers, they are), everyone else will follow. That's how the industry works.
The entertainment unions fought hard in 2023 and won some protections for writers and actors. But VFX, concept art, set design - most of these workers don't have those same protections. And studios know it.
You've got maybe 2-3 years before this becomes industry standard across all major productions. That's not a long time to reskill, pivot, or get into those AI supervisor positions before everyone else figures out they need to.
Or you can vibe and hope your studio is one of the slow adopters. That worked great for the VFX artists who assumed their jobs were too complex to automate.
Until Netflix showed that they're very much not.