Netflix’s new INKubator studio will produce animated shorts with AI

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. Column ColumnPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Column Entertainment EntertainmentPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Entertainment Streaming StreamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All StreamingNetflix’s new INKubator studio will produce animated shorts with AIThe newly formed unit is staffing up to produce ‘feature-quality content’ with generative AI. The newly formed unit is staffing up to produce ‘feature-quality content’ with generative AI. by Janko Roettgers Janko RoettgersLowpass author, Verge contributorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Technical Details

FollowSee All by Janko RoettgersMay 14, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC Netflix’s job listings indicate an generative AI-heavy animation studio is coming. Image: The Verge Janko Roettgers Janko RoettgersPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All by Janko Roettgers is a tech reporter and author of the Lowpass newsletter.

This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Netflix has been building a new internal studio called INKubator that aims to use AI to produce short-form animated content: The streamer is hiring for a wide variety of roles, including producers, software engineers, and CG artists to staff INKubator, according to a number of recently published job listings. Netflix has yet to publicly announce its plans for INKubator, which job listings also sometimes refer to as INK.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A handful of LinkedIn profiles suggest the unit quietly launched in March. Its leadership includes Serrena Iyer, who previously held strategy and operational roles at DreamWorks Animation, MRC Studios, and A24 Films.

Industry Implications

INKubator is just Netflix’s latest push to use AI for production. Earlier this year, it acquired InterPositive, an AI startup founded by Ben Affleck. But while InterPositive is primarily focused on the use of AI in post-production, INKubator appears to go much further: A listing for INKubator’s head of technology calls it “our next-generation, creative-led, GenAI-native animation studio,” with plans to “bridge innovation with imaginative storytelling.

”INKubator’s long-term technology strategy will focus on “GenAI-enabled workflows, artist tooling, and scalable, secure multi-show environments,” according to the listing, suggesting that this is about much more than one-off experiments. “We aim to develop feature-quality content,” emphasizes another listing. At least for now, Netflix doesn’t plan to produce the next KPop Demon Hunters with AI.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.