Netflix posts $1.3 million artificial intelligence job as actors strike

Netflix has sparked outrage after announcing a $1.3 million-per-year AI job, as actors and writers strike for better pay.

Netflix has sparked outrage by announcing it is hiring a $1.3 million-per-year AI job, as actors and writers strike for better pay and protections against technology.

The job, which is officially titled a product manager for the streamer’s machine learning department, boasts a staggering salary of between US$300,000 and $900,000 (A$445,000 – $1.3 million) per year and can be worked remotely from anywhere on America’s west coast.

Crucially, the job description indicates the AI products will be used to “create great content” — not just to develop new algorithms to recommend shows and movies.

The listing comes amid an ongoing strike by more than 160,000 actors, who began industrial action earlier this month and triggered Hollywood’s biggest shutdown in more than 60 years.

The actors, from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), joined screenwriters from the Writers Guild of America, who stopped work three months ago and brought most US film and TV productions to a halt.

The SAG called on streaming giants to agree to a fairer split of profits and better working conditions. The union says 87 per cent of actors earn less than US$26,000 (A$38,000) per year — a stark contrast to the $1.3 million Netflix is throwing at a single AI-focused job.

Also key to the union’s concerns, however, is the possibility that AI may eradicate actors entirely, replacing them with digital replicas.

Netflix recently aired its first AI-generated show, Spanish reality dating series Deep Fake Love, which gave weight to the union’s claims. The show scans contestants’ faces to create AI-generated “deepfakes”, while its gaming studio employs AI to compose narratives and dialogue.

It comes amid an ongoing strike by actors over pay and AI. Picture: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

“The Machine Learning Platform (MLP) provides the foundation for all of this innovation,” the job listing for the $1.3 million role reads.

“It offers ML (machine learning)/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.

“We are creating a new Product Management role to increase the leverage of our Machine Learning Platform.”

In terms of compensation, posters at the Silicon Valley-headquartered streaming giant wrote: “We carefully consider a wide range of compensation factors to determine your personal top of market.”

The job listing continues: “We rely on market indicators to determine compensation and consider your specific job, skills, and experience to get it right. These considerations can cause your compensation to vary and will also be dependent on your location.”

It then adds: “The overall market range for roles in this area of Netflix is typically (US)$300,000 – $900,000.”

The $1.3 million job isn’t Netflix’s only AI-heavy role offering a giant pay packet.

The company is also hiring a technical director for generative AI at its growing gaming studio, complete with an annual salary of up to US$650,000 (A$960,000).

Despite only being on the market for a couple of days, the job has already garnered heavy scrutiny.

SAG-AFTRA member Rob Delaney accused Netflix of using the eye-watering salaries to help build a “godless AI army” that will put thousands of actors out of work.

“$900k/yr per soldier in their godless AI army when that amount of earnings could qualify thirty-five actors and their families for SAG-AFTRA health insurance is just ghoulish,” Delaney, of the Fast and Furious, Deadpool and Mission Impossible franchises, told The Intercept.

“Having been poor and rich in this business, I can assure you there’s enough money to go around. It’s just about priorities.”

Twitter exploded with outrage over the job.

The Writers Guild of America, East, one of the groups that is striking, simply wrote, “seriously?” and tagged Netflix’s official Twitter account.

“Somebody about to get paid 900 bands to tell a machine to do its job and walk away. Wild,” another added.

“Soon we’ll have entire shows made by AI based on what we like watching,” guessed another.

Some netizens even referenced a recent episode in Netflix’s own Black Mirror, in which an ordinary woman named Joan discovers a viral show titled “Joan is Awful” and based on her life. Streamberry, a fictional Netflix-style streaming service, had co-opted Joan’s life and made an AI-generated show about it.

“The time is near,” one person wrote, sharing an image of the surreal Black Mirror episode.

“This is some Streamberry behaviour,” another added.

SAG actors joined screenwriters from the SGA, who have been on strike for three months. Picture: Valerie Macon / AFP

Netflix’s Instagram page, too, is chock-full of criticism.

“Turning to AI now? Cancelling my subscription ASAP,” one person slammed.

“Wait, offering near a mill salary for an AI specialist but can’t increase wages for writers, actors, stunt performers, and dancers to ensure they have healthcare,” another added.

“You know what I want to watch? You giving more pay and respect to the people who make these shows and films for you,” wrote a third.

In response to the SAG’s AI concerns, the big studios offered what they called a “groundbreaking proposal” to protect the digital likeness of actors and require their consent when digital replicas are used in performances, or alterations are made.

The SAG rejected the offer, saying it wasn’t up to scratch.

“They propose that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan of their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity,” said SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

Originally published as Netflix posts $1.3 million artificial intelligence job as actors strike