Netflix has used artificial intelligence (AI) in various production stages across around 300 titles, but human creativity remains essential to filmmaking, a senior production executive said at an industry discussion during the Busan International Film Festival.

Sung Q Lee, Netflix’s senior director of production for Asia-Pacific, said AI was being used in pre-visualisation, production design, set-dressing concepts, editing and visual effects (VFX), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking at Netflix’s annual Creative Asia event, Lee said the focus should not be on how much AI could be used in a production, but on how the technology could improve it.

The discussion, co-hosted with the Motion Picture Association, also featured The Outlaws director Kang Yun-sung and Wētā FX chief technology officer Kimball Thurston.

Kang said generative AI could help filmmakers overcome budget constraints and create scenes that might otherwise be financially unfeasible. His upcoming action film, The Gulf of Aden, uses generative AI tools from Chinese company Kling AI.

He estimated that AI could cut the film’s production costs by around 40%, citing savings in visual effects, shooting time and production processes.

Lee, however, stressed that while technology could improve how films are made, it could not replace the human motivation behind storytelling.

“Technological changes and new tools have helped a great deal with the ‘how’, or how we make what we make better,” he said. “But they never decided the ‘why’ – why we have to tell this story.”

Kimball described Wētā FX’s approach as “assistive AI”, saying the technology was intended to speed up visualisation and reduce repetitive tasks without changing a project’s creative intent.

Lee added that human involvement remained critical to conveying emotion, arguing that technical efficiency alone could not replicate the human touch in filmmaking.