Netflix is hiring an AI manager for up to $900K amid ongoing strikes

UPDATE: Aug. 1, 2023, 3:50 p.m. AEST Netflix's ad was updated after The Intercept's story ran, per reporter Ken Klippenstein. A sentence that referenced machine learning/AI "powering innovation" at Netflix, including "buy[ing] and creat[ing] great content", has been changed and now only lists "personalization for members" and "revenue-focused initiatives". Mashable's original story is below.

Netflix is hiring a product manager to ramp up internal use of artificial intelligence. Considering that a major dispute in the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes concerns how film and TV productions use machine learning, it isn't the best look.

In the job listing first spotted by The Intercept, Netflix offers a whopping salary range of $300,000 to $900,000 to the successful applicant, who will be based either in its Los Gatos, California office or remotely on the U.S. West Coast. Their tasks will include developing the "strategic vision" for Netflix's use of AI through its machine learning platform, which the company says "offers ML/AI practitioners across Netflix the means to achieve the highest possible impact with their work by making it easy to develop, deploy and improve their machine-learning models."

The product manager's job would also involve assessing its use, run programs for "user education" of the platform, and keeping tabs on new innovations in the technology.

Crucially, it currently isn't clear whether this role will be directly involved in or impact the creation of content. Netflix already famously uses artificial intelligence to customise users' recommendations, as well as select thumbnail art that appeals to an individual's specific taste. The company was even parodied in Netflix's own Black Mirror for it. The streaming site also uses AI to help analyse what content is successful, thus informing future productions.

However, Netflix has previously demonstrated that it isn't opposed to the idea of using AI to generate content. The company came under scrutiny in February after its Japanese division used AI to generate background art for anime short The Dog and The Boy. Netflix has also faced criticism for its Spanish reality series Deep Fake Love, in which committed couples are confronted with deepfaked videos of their partners cheating on them.

Netflix declined to comment on the job posting.

This product manager role isn't the only job Netflix is advertising that involves AI. The company is also searching for a machine learning scientist to work on localisation algorithms, an engineering manager to lead AI research on customer satisfaction, and a software engineer to build tools for people using machine learning.

All of this indicates that Netflix is ready and willing to further invest in AI, and invest heavily. It's a prospect likely to concern striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members, many of whom fear exploitation or replacement by AI technology.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has stated that it is willing to agree to SAG-AFTRA's demands regarding AI, specifically that informed consent and fair compensation will be required when digitally recreating an artist or altering their performance. Even so, there's likely some disagreement regarding exactly what "informed consent" and "fair compensation" entail — and it's hardly the only issue fuelling the strike.