GOOGLE INVESTS $75MN IN A24, GIVES STUDIO ACCESS TO DEEPMIND

Google is investing roughly $75 million in A24 and pairing its DeepMind AI lab with the indie studio in a long-term research partnership. The deal is the first time Google has taken a stake in a film studio, and it comes with an explicit boundary: no access to A24’s existing film and television library or its data.

The multiyear, non-exclusive partnership is designed around a feedback loop. A24 filmmakers get hands-on access to DeepMind’s research and infrastructure. DeepMind gets real feedback from working directors. The goal, as Google described it: "The collaboration pairs a world-leading research lab with the industry’s most filmmaker-forward studio to help artists develop new workflows and techniques. "This ensures the tools of the future are shaped by the creators who use them."

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DeepMind cofounder and CEO Demis Hassabis said the best way to build tools that actually empower artists is to work with them directly from day one. There are no concrete products or results yet, but the partnership is expected to span "multiple projects over time".

THE DEAL, AND THE GUARDRAILS

The $75 million investment gives Google a financial interest in A24 but not the usual Hollywood backdoor into an IP library. That matters. Other major studios have spent the last two years fighting AI companies over alleged copyright violations. Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros have fought AI companies over alleged copyright violations. Google’s own models are trained on publicly available internet data, and the company has been careful not to cross the line into scraping proprietary material.

By making the partnership separate from A24’s existing catalogue, Google avoids the legal friction that has slowed competitors. It also positions the deal as a development play rather than a rights grab. A24 gets capital and technology; Google gets a live laboratory with some of the most respected working directors in independent film.

WHAT FILMMAKERS GET

A24’s roster includes directors like Alex Garland, who is already attached to a roughly $175 million Elden Ring adaptation for the studio. Filmmakers in the partnership will test and help shape AI tools as part of their day-to-day work. The idea is that the tools evolve in response to real-world creative constraints rather than engineering assumptions.

Scott Belsky, who is involved in the deal, said the tools Google and A24 are developing won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with. He argued that there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking. That language is a direct attempt to distinguish the partnership from the text-to-video race that has dominated headlines.

CHANGING LANDSCAPE

The deal arrives at a moment when every major tech company is trying to get into Hollywood through AI. Netflix built its own AI animation studio, INKubator, to produce AI-generated shorts and specials. OpenAI backed an AI-assisted animated feature called Critterz heading for Cannes, made on a $30 million budget using OpenAI’s own tools from start to finish. Martin Scorsese recently joined AI startup Black Forest Labs as an adviser, using its tools to storyboard on an upcoming project.

A24 sits in a different position. Survey data shows more than half of moviegoers count themselves fans of the studio. That brand trust is hard to replicate, and it gives the studio leverage to shape the terms of AI adoption rather than being shaped by it. A24 has spent the last decade building that identity with films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and the recent Backrooms.

THE SCEPTICISM TO NAVIGATE

Not everyone in A24’s orbit is comfortable with the direction. The Wall Street Journal reported that Google and A24 are hoping to include the studio’s existing roster of artists in the deal, such as YouTube creator and Backrooms director Kane Parsons. Parsons has been public about his views: he said 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 generative AI on any project.

A24 is betting that the hands-on, collaborative framing of the DeepMind partnership can overcome that resistance. The company is effectively asking its artists to become co-designers of the technology rather than passive consumers of it. Whether that pitch works depends entirely on what the tools actually look like when they reach a director’s edit suite.

ELDEN RING TO BE TEST CASE

The $75 million investment is small relative to Google’s cash reserves, but the strategic bet is larger. If DeepMind can build tools that A24’s directors actually use and recommend, Google gets a credibility shortcut into an industry that has been deeply sceptical of AI. If the tools flop or the cultural backlash builds, the money is small enough to walk away from.

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The Elden Ring adaptation, directed by Alex Garland, will be an early test case. A $175 million budget is a big bet for any studio, let alone an indie label. If AI tooling can meaningfully reduce cost or time in pre-production or post-production on a project of that size, the rest of the industry will take notice. If it doesn’t, the deal becomes a quiet investment in a studio that makes good movies, which is still a fine outcome.