Google DeepMind Invests $75M in A24

Google DeepMind put a reported $75 million into A24 and called it a "first-of-its-kind" research partnership: DeepMind researchers work with the studio on new filmmaking tools, and A24's filmmakers give feedback as they are built. It was the first time Google took a financial stake in a Hollywood studio. The deal is long-term and nonexclusive, gives Google no access to A24's library for training, and carries no obligation to put a single generated frame on screen. A24 said the tools "won't look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with."

The studio best known for auteur cinema was the least expected partner for an AI lab, and the backlash was immediate, with fans on TikTok calling for a boycott and A24 publicly defending the deal within days. It extended a pattern from the same year, after Netflix bought Ben Affleck's AI tools company InterPositive: studios choosing to build AI tools with the labs rather than simply license them.