Netflix has already used AI in various capacities on about 300 titles, according to a senior production executive speaking at the Busan International Film Festival. Sung Q Lee, Netflix’s senior director of production for Asia-Pacific, revealed the scale of the company’s technology adoption during the annual Creative Asia event, emphasizing that while automation assists multiple stages of filmmaking, human oversight remains non-negotiable.
Deploying Automation Across the Pipeline
The streaming giant has integrated machine learning and generative tools into various pockets of the physical and post-production workflow. Lee outlined that the technology touches previsualization, production design, set-dressing concepts, editing, and visual effects. Rather than asking how much automation can be crammed into a single project, Lee framed the objective around what a story can achieve with computational assistance.
Industry stakeholders at the Busan panel, which was presented in partnership with the Motion Picture Association, discussed how these capabilities offer genuine financial relief for productions operating under tight monetary caps. Yet, the panel underscored a sharp philosophical divide between the Hollywood creative community and the Asian content sector. While the former is profoundly wary, many Asian creators view it as an accessible gateway to expand production scopes.
Budgetary Relief Versus Creative Boundaries
Korean filmmaker Kang Yun-sung, the director of The Outlaws, pointed to severe financial limitations as the primary historical bottleneck for domestic productions. Kang co-directed Run to the West alongside self-described AI filmmaker Kwon Han-seul, marking what was billed as Korea’s first fully AI-assisted feature. Despite a sluggish box office run yielding roughly $100,000 amid negative buzz surrounding its visual assets, Kang remains committed to the medium.
Kang is currently in production on an action film titled The Gulf of Aden, which heavily utilizes generative tools from Kling AI. The director estimated that adopting this streamlined approach reduces overall production expenses by approximately 40 percent. By cutting down shooting schedules and bypassing traditional CGI bottlenecks, Kang argued that the technology resurrects scripts that previously languished due to prohibitive funding constraints.
However, studio representatives were quick to establish strict operational boundaries. Wētā FX chief technology officer Kimball Thurston described his firm’s utilization strictly as assistive technology. Thurston explained that the tools rapidly supply visual mock-ups so directors and cinematographers can immediately spot errors and refine intent, emphasizing that automation is never permitted to dictate core creative decisions.
Preserving the Human Element in Storytelling
Addressing the broader evolution of cinema, Netflix executive Sung positioned current computational tools within a long historical continuum of technical disruption. He noted that while innovations refine the mechanics of filmmaking, they cannot manufacture narrative purpose.
“Technological changes and new tools have helped a great deal with the ‘how,’ or how we make what we make better,” Lee said during the discussion. “But they never decided the ‘why’ — why we have to tell this story.”
Lee added a definitive caveat regarding emotional resonance. “When it comes to conveying emotion, ultimately, a human has to touch it. AI can get many jobs done, but does it touch human emotion? The human touch is critical and necessary.”
