Google DeepMind Invests $75M in A24 for AI Filmmaking Tools
Google's DeepMind AI lab and independent film studio A24 have announced a landmark research partnership backed by approximately $75 million in investment from Google — marking the first time Alphabet has ever taken an equity stake in a movie studio. The deal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and Yahoo Finance, is structured as a multiyear, nonexclusive agreement focused on developing new AI-powered tools for movie production and distribution.
What the Google DeepMind and A24 AI Partnership Actually Involves
Under the terms of the agreement, A24 will gain access to DeepMind's research infrastructure, while DeepMind researchers will work directly with the studio to build out new production workflows. Critically, A24's film and television library — along with the rest of its content data — will remain off-limits to Google under the agreement. The collaboration is not a content licensing deal; it is focused squarely on toolbuilding.
The partnership was formally announced via a blog post by Eli Collins, Vice President of Product at Google DeepMind, who described it as "the beginning of a collaborative journey, one rooted in research." Google DeepMind and A24 have jointly described it as "a first-of-its-kind partnership focused on research."
One early project already underway is the use of AI to generate storyboards — the rough visual sketches directors use to plan scenes before cameras roll. That work is being led by A24 Labs, the studio's internal technology division, which operates as a 20-person team. Scott Belsky, who joined A24 as a Partner in early 2025 after serving as Adobe's Chief Product Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, heads the division. According to Yahoo Finance, DeepMind and A24 had been in talks since before Belsky joined the studio.
Belsky has been direct about the philosophy guiding the tools under development. "We think there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking," he told The Wall Street Journal, as reported by Variety. He has also noted that the tools being built "won't look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with" — a pointed reassurance to an industry that has been deeply skeptical of generative AI's encroachment on creative work.
Google's First Studio Investment — and What It Signals for AI Video
Despite owning YouTube and having a massive footprint in online entertainment, Google had never previously taken a stake in a film studio. That changes with this deal. According to Yahoo Finance, Google's investment in A24 is comparable in size to the contribution Thrive Capital made when it led A24's last funding round in 2024 — the round that valued the studio at $3.5 billion.
The move also deepens Google's involvement in AI-generated video. Google's Veo, its AI video generation model, is well-regarded in the space, according to Hollywood Reporter, and the A24 deal is likely to further embed it in the entertainment industry's production pipeline. DeepMind had previously collaborated with individual filmmakers — including director Darren Aronofsky — but the A24 partnership is the first known arrangement with a full-fledged studio.
The investment also fits into a broader pattern of aggressive AI spending by Alphabet. Google has committed up to $40 billion to Anthropic, the AI startup behind the Claude family of models, underscoring the scale of the company's bets on AI infrastructure and partnerships.
Hollywood's Complicated Relationship with AI — The Industry Context
The Google-A24 announcement arrives at a turbulent moment for artificial intelligence in entertainment. Earlier in 2026, a reported collaboration between Disney and OpenAI collapsed when OpenAI pulled the plug on its Sora video tool in March, according to Yahoo Finance. Netflix moved in a different direction, acquiring Ben Affleck's AI startup InterPositive, which was focused on building tools for filmmakers. Lionsgate, meanwhile, expanded its existing partnership with AI firm Runway AI to develop new intellectual property.
The industry backdrop also includes ongoing legal tension between entertainment companies and AI developers over intellectual property. The explicit carve-out in the Google-A24 deal — keeping the studio's film and television library away from Google — appears designed, at least in part, to address those concerns head-on.
A24 itself is in an expansive moment. The studio's revenue has more than doubled over the past two years as it has increased film budgets and moved into new businesses including unscripted television, music, and theater. Its most ambitious project to date is a film adaptation of the videogame Elden Ring, helmed by director Alex Garland, with a reported budget of approximately $175 million — the largest in the studio's history.
What Google and A24 Are Saying
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, framed the partnership around direct collaboration with creative professionals. "We believe the best way to develop tools that empower artists is to work directly with them," he said in a statement published on Google's official blog and reported by Hollywood Reporter.
Hassabis elaborated further: "By collaborating with filmmakers and industry leaders like A24 from the beginning, we can build new AI features to support artists in authentic, meaningful storytelling that helps enable their creative vision."
Eli Collins, VP of Product at Google DeepMind, echoed that framing in his announcement. "We believe breakthroughs happen when you get technology into the hands of the best minds in the field," he said, as reported by Engadget and Variety.
What Comes Next
The partnership is described as a research collaboration at its earliest stage. Collins' characterization of it as "the beginning of a collaborative journey" suggests that concrete tools and workflows are still in development rather than ready for deployment. The storyboarding project underway at A24 Labs represents one visible early application, but the full scope of what DeepMind and A24 plan to build together has not been publicly detailed.
What is clear is the structural intent: A24 gets access to DeepMind's research capabilities and infrastructure; DeepMind gets a working relationship with one of the most creatively influential studios in the industry, without touching its content library. Whether that arrangement produces tools that meaningfully shift film production workflows — and whether those tools gain adoption beyond A24 — remains to be seen.
The nonexclusive nature of the deal also leaves both parties free to pursue other AI partnerships, which may matter as the competitive landscape in AI video generation continues to evolve rapidly.
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Why This Matters Beyond Hollywood
The Google-A24 partnership is being watched closely because it represents a specific model for how AI companies and creative industries might work together — one built around toolbuilding and research collaboration rather than content ingestion or licensing. That model, if it proves workable, could have implications well beyond film: the same questions about AI's role in creative workflows, intellectual property boundaries, and the preservation of human creative control are live across music, publishing, game development, and design. How A24 Labs navigates the tension between AI capability and creative autonomy may offer a template — or a cautionary tale — for other industries grappling with the same pressures.
The ability to manage creative workflows, protect intellectual output, and adopt new tools without surrendering control is increasingly a productivity and strategic challenge for professionals across sectors — not just filmmakers.
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