A24, the movie production company that built its brand by empowering human creativity, has received $75 million in AI funding from Google, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Although Google is already an entertainment industry giant — they own YouTube, after all — this marks the first time they’ve invested in a traditional film and television studio. According to the Journal, “Google’s DeepMind AI unit and A24 are aiming to create new tools for movie production and distribution.”
Scott Belsky, the A24 partner in charge of technology and innovation, pitched a vision for ethical tools that empower filmmakers. “We think there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking,” he said, adding that these new platforms “won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.”
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After a rocky start to the relationship, some corners of Hollywood seem to be warming up to AI. The Brutalist used a machine tool to improve its Hungarian accents, which didn’t stop Adrian Brody from taking home Best Actor, while Martin Scorsese hopes AI solves his longtime storyboarding frustrations, and Steven Soderbergh is attracted to the technology’s surreal potential. Perhaps A24 has some gripe that they think AI can fix, or they imagine themselves building a new kind of VFX house with fewer employees who work better hours, or whatever.
But the move is sure to raise eyebrows, particularly after A24 passed on the Luca Guadagnino biopic Artificial, about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. On the one hand, A24 distributed Guadagnino’s Queer, on the other hand, they haven’t carried all of his films, and on a third AI hand coming out of the ribs, one of A24’s largest investors is Thrive Capital, which is also one of OpenAI’s most public investors. Cue the conspiracies and online chatter, which may never be settled, unless it turns out Artificial is obviously good or obviously bad. Either way, we probably won’t know where A24 lands on the Using AI for Evil Spectrum for a little longer.
The news comes while A24 is riding high. Their latest film, Backrooms, is their biggest hit yet, and is poised to be their first movie to gross over $300 million worldwide.
