As Hollywood writers and actors strike, Netflix has posted a job offering of up to $900,000 per year for an AI-focused product manager.
The position posted on the Netflix website advertises an opening with a salary range of $300,000 to $900,000. SAG-AFTRA points out that many of its members only make $200 a day for their roles as background actors. According to the listing, the product manager will be responsible for creating great content, not just developing algorithms for recommendations. It also mentions integrating AI in “all areas of business.”
Aside from this listing, Netflix is also seeking a technical director for generative AI for its gaming studio with a starting salary of $650,000. The Netflix gaming studio uses generative AI to compose narratives and dialogue for its games, but it’s also present in a Spanish reality dating series called Deep Fake Love. In that series, contestants have their faces scanned to allow AI to create ‘deepfake’ images.
That technology is one of the reasons why many actors are striking after rejecting a proposal by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that would give background actors a one-time fee of $200 for scanning their faces for future use. According to SAG-AFTRA, studios would own the scan created, their images, their likeness, and be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any future projects with no additional consent or compensation.”
“Actors deserve a contract that reflects the changes that have taken place in the industry,” adds SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “The current model devalues our members and affects their ability to make ends meet.” This is the first time the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America have gone on strike together since the 1960s. At the core issue of the strike is studios’ unwillingness to pay for talent—while investing beaucoup bucks into artificial intelligence initiatives.