# Streaming & Platform AI Strategy Shifts

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-07-21

## Transcript

This is TechCrunch.
YouTube has clarified its policies around AI sloth.
I'm Imran Shaikh, and your Daily Crunch for Tuesday starts right now.
In a new regulatory filing, Netflix revealed that it paid $587 million in cash for Inner Positive, a startup co-founded by actor and director Ben Affleck.
The streaming company announced the acquisition in March, with a statement from Affleck saying he wanted to protect the power of human creativity.
According to Affleck, InterPositives' AI tools help filmmakers improve their footage in post-production, particularly when it comes to making up for real-world production challenges, such as missing shots, background replacements, or incorrect lighting.
At the time, Netflix announced that the entire Interpositive team would be joining the company, with Affleck joining as a senior advisor, but it didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal.
A subsequent report in Bloomberg suggested that the deal could be worth up to $600 million.
In its most recent earnings report, Netflix said that around 300 of its titles have already used generative AI.
Adobe is adding new AI-powered features to its experimental iOS camera app called Project Indigo, launched last year.
The app previously offered pro-controlled, multi-frame super resolution, and different capture modes, and is now adding features that will use LLMs, large language models, to critique photos and provide editing suggestions.
It's also adding other AI features, like advanced object removal, depth of field generation, and the ability to add different styles to photos.
Most of the new experimental AI features are buttons that can generate more deterministic outputs.
For instance, Google's Camera Coach feature for Pixel phones, launched last year, offered more generic framing suggestions.
Project Indigo's features, by comparison, are fairly descriptive and could help you learn some photography tricks, even if you don't agree with the AI assessment.
There are two features in this category.
First is the photo critique.
which includes a professional opinion about framing, lighting, colors, and emotional impact.
The second is capture and edit suggestions, which give you tips about reshooting the photo on how you can change framing, exposure, and objects in the viewfinder.
With this new update, Adobe is also experimenting with the style transfer feature, which lets you turn your picture into tones like watercolor, pen and ink, ink line with color wash, monochromatic, and backlit subject.
A recent change sees YouTube further cracking down on AI slop by clarifying its policies around how content on its platform can be monetized.
To discourage creators from using AI and other tools to make low-quality content, YouTube's policy now explains that there are three types of videos under the broader category of inauthentic content that cannot be monetized.
YouTube already had policies around AI content.
Last year, the company announced it was stemming creators' ability to generate revenue from what it called inauthentic content, including mass-produced videos and other types of repetitive content that have become easier to generate with the help of AI technology.
Rather, the recent update is about adding more nuance to the existing policies.
The updated guidelines break down inauthentic content into three categories, including generic, repetitive, or template-based content, followed by off-putting or distressing content, and then any content where AI personas are used to discuss sensitive topics like health and finance.
While AI slop...
much like adult content, is something of a you-know-it-when-you-see-it situation for many, YouTube's policies are meant to more specifically spell out when AI's use in content creation is allowed or is not permitted for videos being monetized through its YouTube partner program, YPP.
The program, which allows creators to earn money through advertising and subscriptions, is YouTube's lifeblood, allowing it to fill up with AI slop or other low-quality fare that would not be in the company's financial interests.
This is especially important given that YouTube is in close competition with TV and other streamers for TV ad dollars.
Google's video platform now generates more ad revenue than rival streamers and has overtaken Netflix and average daily viewers worldwide.
And folks, that's your Daily Crunch.
Today's stories are reported by Sarah Perez, Ivan Mehta, Anthony Ha, and more awesome TechCrunch journalists.
We'll see you here tomorrow, same Tech Time, same Crunch channel.
And until then, find us at TechCrunch.com.