Amazon backs a new service described as the "Netflix of AI" that would let people make their own TV shows using existing IP

Amazon has backed a new AI service that is being called the "Netflix of AI", and it's another depressing development in the use of generative AI in the entertainment industry.

Amazon has invested an undisclosed amount of money in Showrunner, developed by tech company Fable. The so-called "Netflix of AI" is a service that, according to Variety, "lets you type in a few words to create scenes – or entire episodes – of a TV show, either from scratch or based on an existing story-world someone else has created." The program will start out as free to use, and then users will be charged between $10 and $20 per month.

"Hollywood streaming services are about to become two-way entertainment: audiences watching a season of a show [and] loving it will now be able to make new episodes with a few words and become characters with a photo," Fable CEO Edward Saatchi told the publication. "Our relationship to entertainment will be totally different in the next five years."

According to the report, the software is only able to create episodic content that resets each time rather than longer multi-episode arcs – so perhaps it won't be replacing traditional television too quickly.

Saatchi is reportedly in talks with Disney and other studios about licensing their IP, which comes in the wake of the House of Mouse recently calling AI a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" and teaming up with Universal to sue AI company Midjourney. There are also concerns among film and TV creatives that they'll lose their work to algorithms, along with the environmental costs of generative AI.

For more on what to watch, check out our guides to the best Netflix movies and the best Netflix shows to add to your watchlist.