Google is investing roughly $75 million in independent film studio A24 under a new artificial intelligence research partnership built around its DeepMind division.
Key Points:
- Google is putting about $75 million into A24 through a DeepMind research partnership.
- The deal excludes A24's film and television library along with its content data.
- The stake is Google's first in a movie studio and runs on multiyear, nonexclusive terms.
Google DeepMind Backs A24
The arrangement was confirmed Monday. It runs through Google's DeepMind unit and stands as the company's first stake in a film studio, the home of recent hits like "Backrooms" and "Marty Supreme." Both sides describe a multiyear, nonexclusive effort that can widen in scope as the research matures over time.
Researchers from the lab will build production and distribution tools alongside A24 filmmakers, who in turn gain access to DeepMind's research and computing power. The exchange runs in both directions. DeepMind collects feedback from working artists as it tests the new tools, while the studio gets a direct hand in shaping what eventually ships.
The studio's library stays off-limits. Google excludes the content data from training, and the roughly $75 million check, about 2% of A24, matches what Thrive Capital put into the studio's 2024 round at a $3.5 billion valuation.
Belsky Pledges Creative Control
Scott Belsky, the A24 partner who oversees technology and innovation, moved to calm fears that the deal would unleash the generative tools many filmmakers across the industry have learned to distrust. He framed it differently. The products, he said, would chase "better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking."
Demis Hassabis, who leads DeepMind, tied the work to building tools with artists in the room rather than around them. A24 Labs, the studio's technology arm, already develops an AI storyboarding tool meant to flag production snags before cameras roll. The studio is also readying its biggest budget yet, a roughly $175 million film of the video game Elden Ring directed by Alex Garland.
Also Read: Strategy's Bitcoin Machine Keeps Running As Treasury Nears 850K BTC
Hollywood AI Deals Wobble
Hollywood's record on these AI partnerships is shaky. Disney scrapped a short-lived character deal with OpenAI even as it sued AI firms like MiniMax and Midjourney over copyright, while Lionsgate pushed deeper into its own work with Runway.
The unease runs deeper than any single contract. Studios and unions clashed hard over the technology during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes, fights that still shape how Hollywood weighs each new AI deal that lands.
Read Next: Ethereum Bears Load Up $85M In Shorts As Traders Chase A Rebound