Google invests in A24 to build AI movie tools

Google’s DeepMind AI lab is teaming up with A24 to develop new movie production technologies that aim to help future filmmakers “expand their storytelling possibilities.” As part of this new research and development collaboration, The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is investing “around $75 million” into A24, marking the first time the search giant has taken a stake in a film studio.

“The collaboration pairs a world-leading research lab with the industry’s most filmmaker-forward studio to help artists develop new workflows and techniques,” Google said in its announcement blog. “This ensures the tools of the future are shaped by the creators who use them.”

The partnership is expected to span across “multiple projects over time” according to Google, though the announcement doesn’t mention any specific movies that Google will be involved with. WSJ reports that Google and A24 are aiming to create new tools for movie production and distribution, something that Google alluded to in its own announcement, saying the “initial focus is on bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and next generation entertainment.”

The multiyear deal is non-exclusive, according to WSJ, and doesn’t allow Google to access A24’s film and television library data. Still, the partnership is likely to raise some eyebrows in the film industry, given that Google’s AI models are trained on publicly available internet data, and how ferociously other movie studios like Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros have fought AI companies for alleged copyright violations.

WSJ also reports that Google and A24 are hoping to include the movie studio’s existing roster of artists in the deal, such as YouTube creator and Backrooms director, Kane Parsons. In an interview with The Australian earlier this month, Parsons said that “generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot,” and that he gets “no enjoyment” out of using the technology on any project.

According to Scott Belsky — an A24 partner who was previously Adobe’s chief strategy officer — the tools that Google and A24 are developing “won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.” In his statement to WSJ, Belsky said “there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking.”