Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings has entered semi-retirement and now spends much of his time commuting to the Utah ski resort he purchased in 2023.
But he remains Netflix’s chairman and a member of its board, and in a new interview, the executive spoke about what he sees as the biggest risks facing Netflix. That’s if AI-generated free content on platforms like YouTube becomes attractive enough to make people stop paying for Netflix.
In an interview on the syndicated TV show “In Depth With Graham Bensinger,” Hastings said he is “very confident” about the future of subscription entertainment. But he said there are “several” risks to Netflix, most of which are related to AI. He says: “AI will transform content creation so that young people only watch YouTube. AI-enhanced YouTube content becomes cooler and sexier the more they spend all their time on it.”
Hastings said Netflix “needs to make full use of AI to improve our content and all the talent we work with to make it worth paying for. I mean, YouTube is free and we’re a subscription, so we need to justify that. This is what we need to do. “It’s the history of television, starting with HBO. Why pay for TV? That was the first thing. And HBO has proven that they can provide content that’s worth paying for. So the challenge for us is to use AI to improve the content.” telling a story. ”
Earlier this month, Netflix announced that it would acquire Interpositive, an AI filmmaking tools startup founded by Ben Affleck, in one of its biggest acquisitions in history. The company said its AI technology “keeps filmmakers at the center of the process” and provides creative partners with access to the system. Under the terms of the deal, Netflix could reportedly pay InterPositive investors up to $600 million.
Hastings, who stepped down as co-CEO of Netflix in early 2023 after leading the company for 25 years, is the majority owner of Powder Mountain Ski Resort in Eden, Utah. He bought the site in 2023 on undisclosed terms, assuming the resort’s more than $100 million in debt, according to the New York Times.
Regarding stepping down as CEO, Hastings said, “So imagine being married for 25 years, like when I was at Netflix, and all of a sudden you get kicked out. You’re free.” “This was kind of my rebound business,” he said of the Powder Mountain acquisition.
“This opportunity came along and I felt like somebody loved me. I felt like I could run something and take it over,” Hastings said of buying the ski resort. “I loved this place, and I still do. So it was an opportunity for me to do something impactful that I was interested in, something completely different than Netflix. We were working on something that was very intuitive compared to a large Internet business, from menus to elevators to designing different buildings to creating a community.”
Hastings also said in the interview that after stepping down as CEO of Netflix, he cut his alcohol intake from three drinks a day to one. He said he is self-medicating to cope with the stress of running a company.
“When I was working, I was eating and drinking under stress,” Hastings told Bensinger. “When you’re self-medicating like that, you don’t know what you’d do without it.”
Watch a clip from an episode of “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” starring Hastings. It is scheduled to air in national syndication on March 28th.
