Netflix lists AI product manager job with staggering salary up to $900,000-a-year – as Hollywood execs insist it’s ‘just not realistic’ to pay actors more as they strike over AI protections and pay
- The company is currently offering up to $900,000 for a single AI-related job
- It is seeking a manager for an AI-focused role, with a range of $300K to $900K
- The rise of AI-powered technologies is one of the main issues fueling the strike
Netflix has advertised a high-paying AI position with an annual pay of up to $900,000 – as actors and writers continue to strike and demand better safeguards against technology that may jeopardize their jobs.
Officially billed as a product manager position for the firm’s machine learning department, the job boasts a salary range of $300,000 to $900,000, and can be worked remotely anywhere on the West Coast.
They will be responsible for enhancing Netflix’s burgeoning machine-learning platform (MLP), the listing states – while utilizing AI to ‘create’ content as opposed to using it to generate recommendations for users.
The listing, aside from showing the lavish spending now being allocated to AI programs, illustrates Netflix’s continued commitment to integrating artificial intelligence across its various business sectors.
It also comes as several execs insisted it is ‘just not realistic’ to pay striking actors more, as they continue to call for better wages and regulations on studios’ use of the budding technology.
Netflix has advertised a high-paying AI position with an annual pay of up to $900,000. The job, which can be worked remotely anywhere across the West Coast, illustrated Netflix’s continued commitment to AI – even as actors threaten to bring Hollywood to a standstill
Officially billed as a product manager position for the firm’s machine learning department, the job boasts a salary range of $300,000 to $900,000, and can be worked remotely anywhere on the West Coast
It also comes days after studio heads insisted it is ‘just not realistic’ to pay striking actors more, as the continue to call for better wages and regulations on studios’ use of the budding technology
‘The Machine Learning Platform (MLP) provides the foundation for all of this innovation,’ an excerpt of the Machine Learning/AI Product Manager listing reads.
It adds that the position ‘offers both machine learning and artificial practitioners across Netflix the means to achieve the highest possible impact with their work,’ by making it easy to develop, deploy and improve various machine-learning models.
‘We are creating a new Product Management role to increase the leverage of our Machine Learning Platform,’ it adds of the new position.
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.’
It 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 $300,000 – $900,000.’
Posted just days ago, the offer is not the only new Netflix listing promising a hefty payday for an AI job – with an another asking for a technical director specializing in generative AI at its gaming studio.
They will be paid somewhere between $450,000 and $650,000, the listing notes, a range that accounts for total compensation as opposed to just base salary.
As is the case in the other advertisement, the listing touted Netflix’s Los Gatos offices for having ‘a unique culture and environment’, and gave applicants the opportunity to provide information about their ‘race, sexual orientation… [and] gender identity’ to help secure the role.
Posted just days ago, the offer is not the only new Netflix listing promising a hefty payday for an AI job – with another asking for a technical director specializing in AI at its gaming studio
The listings, aside from showing the lavish spending now being allocated to AI programs, illustrates the Silicon Valley’s firm continued commitment to integrating AI across its various business sectors, despite the ongoing double strike by Hollywood’s actors and writers
Actors are now criticizing co-CEOS Ted Sarandos (left) and Greg Peters (right) for working to build a ‘godless AI army’ that could endanger thousands of actors’ careers
While only posted recently, the listings are already prompting a stark response, as many remain skeptical – or outright incensed – over the new technology.
Among the outraged was striking SAG-AFTRA member Rob Delaney, who accused Netflix of using the eye-watering salaries to help build a ‘godless AI army’ that he said will eventually put thousands of actors out of work.
‘So $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, who stars in the now delayed Deadpool 3, told The Intercept.
‘Having been poor and rich in this business, I can assure you there’s enough money to go around,’ the 46-year-old Black Mirror star continued, citing how 87 percent of the roughly 165,000 active actors in Hollywood make less than $26,000 a year.
‘It’s just about priorities.’
The actors’ criticism comes days Disney CEO Bob Iger branded actors’ demands for better pay as ‘not realistic’ – while attending an exclusive media event in Idaho’s Sun Valley.
Delivered on July 13 – two days after Iger was spotted touching down in the Gem State in a multimillion-dollar private jet – the remark was followed by another polarizing assertion from the well-paid exec, in which he posited that another month of striking would have a ‘very damaging’ effect on the film and TV industries.
The actors’ strike, which began last week, come in addition to a protest currently being leveled by The Writers Guild of America, which called a work stoppage May 2
Experts say the dual actors-writers’ strike could last for months, forecasting fewer movie releases and more re-runs early next year if the situation is not resolved by September
Numerous big-budget films that had been in the works were forced to shut down immediately. Affected productions included the anticipated sequel Deadpool 3
The interview – which came days after an unnamed executive told Deadline that studios were seeking to wait out the less moneyed writers until they ‘start losing their apartments’ – quickly incited outrages, and elicited a response from SAG president Fran Drescher.
Speaking to Bernie Sanders last week, the 45-year-old former Nanny star tore into the well-paid exec, after talks for a solution between the striking actors and writers and studio fell apart in Washington, DC.
She also brought up how he made some $27million this past year and is currently being paid tens of thousands daily to run his multibillion-dollar company, which, unlike Netflix, has declined to go into specifics about the nature of their investments into AI.
However, in a recent earnings call, the CEO alluded to some of the efforts currently being made to integrate AI into their business model.
‘We’re already starting to use AI to create some efficiencies and ultimately to better serve consumers,’ Iger said, as recently reported by journalist Lee Fang.
‘But it’s also clear that AI is going to be highly disruptive, and it could be extremely difficult to manage, particularly from an IP management perspective.’
He added, ‘I can tell you that our legal team is working overtime already to try to come to grips with what could be some of the challenges here.’
Among the actors’ demands are protections against their scanned likeness being used by AI without adequate compensation or permission – a concept Delaney likened to a recent episode of Black Mirror he starred in.
In it, actress Salma Hayek finds herself locked in a bitter struggle with a studio that repeatedly uses her scanned digital likeness against her will.
Speaking to the Intercept, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for the actors’ union, added ‘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… and be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation.’
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for the actors’ union, decried studios like Netflix for not adhering to actors’ demands involving AI at a protest Tuesday in New York’s Times Square
The criticism comes days after Disney CEO Bob Iger branded actors’ demands for better pay and protection from AI using their likenesses as ‘not realistic’ on July 13
Those comments were delivered two days after the CEO – who makes an estimated $27 million per year – was spotted touching down in the Gem State in a multimillion-dollar private jet. Iger has also said his company is investing in AI-fueled content creation
Speaking from the picket rally Tuesday in Times Square, he added: ‘This strike is the result of big corporations that refuse to treat our members fairly. And it’s not okay
‘We are standing up and we are saying “No” to that…This is a united membership who are standing together and are saying “No” to an unfair deal. Are saying ‘No’ to disrespect from these companies.’
As of Wednesday, both strikes were still in full effect. Insiders now expect the historic stoppage to persist for at least the next several weeks, potentially throwing a monkey wrench in upcoming releases like Delaney’s Deadpool 3.
Other affected productions included the anticipated sequel Gladiator 2, as well as the Tom Hardy-led Venom 3. Twisters – an update to the 1996 movie starring Daisy Edgar-Jones – was also put on pause. TV series such as Sydney Sweeney’s Euphoria were also not spared, with the show’s season three pushed back to 2025.
Last week, three prominent studio chiefs predicted if the situation is not resolved by Labor Day, Americans can expect less movie releases and more re-runs early next year.
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