‘Animals’ Star Ben Affleck Brushes off AI Job-Loss Fears as Propaganda, and Not Everyone Is Buying It

Few topics divide Hollywood quite like artificial intelligence, and few stars have planted themselves as firmly on one side of the debate as Ben Affleck. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has become one of the industry’s most vocal champions of AI, and his latest comments are sure to keep that conversation heated.

His stance is no surprise given his business ties. Affleck quietly founded the AI company InterPositive in 2022 and served as its CEO, before Netflix bought it this year for $587 million, after which he moved into a senior advisor role. The streamer now plans to give filmmakers and creative partners access to InterPositive’s tools on upcoming productions.

Speaking with Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw at the Screentime summit in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Affleck said many of the dire predictions about AI amount to propaganda. He argued that once filmmakers actually use the technology, it stops looking like a terrifying alien that will kill us all or wipe out half of white-collar jobs and starts looking like just another form of computing.

The actor went even further on the employment question. According to Affleck, productions using AI today have the same number of people on them, or even more, and he said he hasn’t seen the technology used simply to slash costs.

He also said Netflix has kept its word about using the tech to improve its work rather than to cut costs. When asked about critics who claim the streamer bought his company so it could pursue objectionable uses of AI with a respected filmmaker providing cover, Affleck dismissed that as a very cynical view.

Affleck also said he doesn’t worry about Skynet, the fictional AI system from the ‘Terminator’ movies, and expects the technology to add to the film business rather than take it over. His real concern, he explained, is closer to home: the effect AI could have on kids in school, including Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Ben Affleck made news this week when he spoke about using AI on his new movie ‘Animals,’ and now he’s going deeper on his approach to use the technology in a responsible way.

Affleck spoke to THR at the film’s premiere: “I wouldn’t use something that trains on or has learned… pic.twitter.com/eaWzVGCFqc

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 2, 2026

Affleck confirmed he used AI for many tasks on ‘Animals’, the Netflix thriller he directed and stars in alongside Kerry Washington. The film, which also features Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez, arrives on Netflix and in select theaters on October 9.

He wouldn’t say exactly where the technology shows up on screen, though. Affleck compared revealing those details to a magician walking out before a show and pointing out the hidden bunny, since filmmakers are trying to maintain the illusion of reality, and he called ‘Animals’ a good example of ethical AI use because it’s such a human story.

He also argued that the industry can’t afford to bury its head in the sand, saying AI needs to be incorporated and understood. Once people get familiar with it, he said, they see its failures and limitations, and he doesn’t believe anyone will ever be able to simply type in a prompt and produce a movie audiences want to see.

Not everyone is convinced by Affleck’s optimism. Fortune pointed to Labor Department data showing the film industry shed 49,000 jobs between 2016 and 2026, a 21% decline, which makes the employment debate far from settled.

New trailer for ‘ANIMALS’, directed by & starring Ben Affleck.

The film follows a mayoral candidate who must steal money to pay a ransom after his son is kidnapped.

Releasing October 9 on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/bWPQvlZJTd

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 15, 2026

The reaction online has been mixed at best. The A.V. Club noted with some sarcasm that it’s hardly surprising Affleck would praise his own ethical AI use after Netflix acquired his startup, while some readers on Deadline brushed off ‘Animals’ entirely as soon as the AI disclosure surfaced.

For now, Affleck seems determined to make the case that AI is a tool rather than a threat. With ‘Animals’ arriving next week, audiences will soon get the chance to judge for themselves whether the technology helped or hurt a film its director insists is deeply human.

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