Ben Affleck's AI know-how wins over the internet
Actor Ben Affleck has gone viral this week after interview clips showed him discussing AI technology in detail. He also explained his approach to AI in filmmaking and the sale of his startup to Netflix.
Ben Affleck has become a social media sensation this week after several interview clips showed him speaking knowledgeably about artificial intelligence. Earlier this year he reportedly sold his AI filmmaking startup to Netflix for around $587 million. Affleck himself says that figure is not right, as he did not own the entire company.
Explaining neural networks
On GQ's "One More Question" series, the actor told interviewer Zach Baron he had been drawn to computers since childhood. He used terms such as machine learning, neural networks, transformers, tensors, GPUs and inference, defining them along the way for his host. Affleck said he became involved in the field when film shifted from analog to digital, noting that visual effects workflows have used machine learning for many years. He added that he can write simple Python scripts.
He explained that neural networks help identify patterns in images, such as the outline of a window ledge, so a green screen background can be replaced more easily. The actor also admitted he sometimes used his Hollywood status to get early looks at emerging AI technology, including a visit to OpenAI.
An ethical approach and a custom dataset
Affleck said he bet that using AI ethically in film required building a dataset of his own, given the long-standing relationships in the industry around actors' likeness. He shot for about eight months with many cameras to create data for late-stage training of open models on specific tasks. At the Screentime 2026 conference in Los Angeles, he told Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw that he fine-tunes open-source models by unfreezing their weights and teaching them to meet cinematic standards. Filmmakers thereby keep their proprietary work while benefiting from a model trained for their own movie. He used the technique on his film "Animals".
Concerns about AI
Affleck said he does not worry about a Skynet scenario and does not expect AI to take over the movie business in any meaningful way, believing it will be additive. His concerns lie closer to education: a 30% rise in the number of A grades at colleges over three years, learned helplessness and responsible use.
