Netflix is offering up to $900,000 for an AI-focused role as actors continue to strike over the ‘existential threat’ posed by the technology

• As the actors’ and writers’ strikes continue to bite, Netflix is recruiting AI talent.
• The firm is seeking a manager for an AI-focused role. It has a salary range of $300,000 to $900,000.
• The rise of new AI-powered technologies is one of the central issues driving the actor’s strike.

As the actors’ and writers’ strikes continue to grip the film industry, one major streaming platform is focusing on AI and machine learning for a key role.

Netflix has begun recruiting for the job, officially advertised as product manager – machine learning platform. It has a salary range of $300,000 to $900,000. In another job posting, the streaming giant is offering up to $650,000 for a generative AI technical director role to work in its gaming studio.

The product manager listing indicated that AI would be used in all areas of Netflix’s business, including helping the company buy and “create great content.” There would also be more traditional uses, such as personalizing a user’s content recommendations, per the listing. 

The rise of new AI-powered technologies is one of the key issues driving the actor’s strike. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the national executive director and chief negotiator of the actors union SAG-AFTRA, has called the rise of generative AI an “existential threat” to actors’ livelihoods. 

The union’s national board walked out earlier this month after failing to reach a new contract that agreed limits on the use of AI, among other issues.

Members of the union said studios offered to pay background actors a day rate in exchange for companies taking scans that could be used to create their digital likenesses. The day rate for background actors can be as low as $200, according to the SAG-AFTRA contract.

Members of the Writers Guild of America have also been on strike since May. Writers have similar concerns about the use of AI in the industry, with some worried that financial pressures at entertainment companies would push their leaders to leverage AI. 

Representatives for Netflix did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, made outside normal working hours.