Netflix paid $587 million in cash when it bought InterPositive, Ben Affleck’s artificial intelligence startup, the company revealed in a federal filing.

As part of the company’s Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Netflix confirmed that it completed an acquisition in March “for a total purchase price of approximately $587 million. The disclosure came months after a Bloomberg report indicated that Netflix’s March acquisition could be worth up to $600 million for Affleck and InterPositive investors, even if the total price for the company was less than that amount.

The rest would be covered by “certain performance objectives,” according to the Bloomberg report. Netflix did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

Netflix bought Affleck’s startup, which he founded in 2022 and operated in stealth mode, in a bid to develop artificial intelligence tools that would keep “filmmakers at the center of the process.” The purchase added to InterPositive’s 16-person team of engineers, researchers and creatives, while Affleck joined Netflix as a senior advisor. The company’s tools allow filmmakers to build an AI model using production diaries to help improve post-production work, such as mixing, re-lighting shots and adding visual effects, forgoing typical visual generation efforts.

“From the invention of the moving image to the transition to digital, from motion capture to virtual production, technology has evolved along with the artists who use it,” Affleck said as part of the merger announcement. “Our shared commitment to continuing this legacy makes joining together a natural next step, in addition to Netflix’s decades of experience in applying and scaling technology responsibly.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos highlighted the company’s integration of generative AI tools and its work with InterPositive during its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, where he revealed that roughly 300 of its titles have used some form of generative AI this year. Sarandos said that while the deal with InterPositive was still in its “early days,” Netflix has seen its impact on productions along with some of its other internal tools.

Still, while he highlighted the use of AI in the documentary series “The American Experiment” to produce footage “twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options,” he said the company was not eager to replace work done by humans with generative technology.

“We believe that it takes great artists to make something great, and AI is not going to change that,” Sarandos said. “Movies are made by people who make movies. AI gives them better tools to make them even better.”