Netflix is already recovering after the first time it saw a first subscriber decline in 2022. However, there are still other dangers that could dethrone the streaming service from its top spot. According to the company, generative AI may pose a risk to its operations.
Netflix's Report Points to Gen AI
Netflix filed its annual 10-K report for the SEC on Friday, and under the section about video competition, the streaming giant listed generative AI as something that could create problems for the business seeing as it is now being adopted by countless companies.
In the filing, Netflix said that new technological developments, including the development and use of generative artificial intelligence, are rapidly evolving. If the competitors start using this to their advantage, the company might not be able to compete.
The streaming company said that such technologies cause its operations to be "adversely impacted." While the solution might be obvious, which is the company also taking advantage of artificial intelligence, Netflix had an answer for that as well.
Netflix added: "[T]he use or adoption of new and emerging technologies may increase our exposure to intellectual property claims, and the availability of copyright and other intellectual property protection for AI-generated material is uncertain," as mentioned in Variety.
This is merely a cautious addition to the filing, as Netflix is required to disclose to investors what might hurt the business. On the grand scale of things, it's unlikely that other steaming platforms will ever resort to creating content using generative AI.
For the same reason Netflix mentioned, the use of generative AI is still not as "free" as its users could hope. There are a lot of other creators who might see a resemblance between their work and AI-generated content and could sue the companies involved.
The Possibility of Gen AI in Streaming
Artificial intelligence is still a sore topic for creators, especially since countless have had their work used for machine learning without their consent, leading to users of AI tools managing to create outputs that look similar to licensed or copyrighted content.
In addition to that, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have also addressed this issue before the movement ended. With the threat of their jobs being threatened, the use of AI by streaming services could prompt another strike or at least some resistance.
Some companies are not too shy about using them. For instance, Marvel's "Secret Invasion" received backlash after using generative AI to create its intro, and that was just a few seconds before opening the episode. Imagine what would happen if the episode itself was AI.
YouTube has also developed an AI tool called Dream Track that allows you to create music using the voices of other artists such as Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Papoose, Sia, T-Pain, Troye Sivan, per Smithsonian Magazine.
The songs can be used for YouTube Shorts, meaning that they can only last for about 30 seconds. The feature is still not open to others, but the platform might release it soon seeing as there are no oppositions, yet.
