Independent film studio A24 and Google DeepMind have announced a $75 million AI research partnership aimed at developing new filmmaking workflows and creative tools, marking one of the most significant collaborations yet between big tech AI and a prestige entertainment brand.
The deal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on June 22, 2026, will see DeepMind invest in A24 to build what the companies describe as a research partnership designed to "develop new workflows and techniques" for filmmakers. The venture gives A24 access to DeepMind's AI research and tools, including the Gemini large language model and the Veo text-to-video generation platform. For more context on this story, see our ongoing more AI stories.
A Strategic Bet on AI-Assisted Production
For A24 — the studio behind acclaimed films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once, Past Lives, and The Whale — the partnership represents a deliberate push into AI-assisted filmmaking. The studio has already been exploring AI through A24 Labs, an internal division established in January 2025 and overseen by entrepreneur Scott Belsky.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Belsky indicated that A24's use of AI would focus on storyboarding and other pre-production tasks. He sought to distance the studio's approach from the kind of generative AI that has drawn widespread criticism, stating that the results "won't look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with."
The studio is reportedly developing what Belsky described as a "boutique in-house AI model" tailored to its creative needs. The DeepMind deal would accelerate that effort by giving A24 direct access to frontier AI research and engineering talent.
What DeepMind Gets in Return
The partnership is not purely philanthropic. In exchange for its investment, DeepMind's researchers will collaborate directly with A24's employees to gain what Google described as "invaluable feedback and guidance from leading artists."
For DeepMind, the arrangement offers a rare opportunity to test its creative AI tools — particularly Veo, which competes with OpenAI's Sora in the text-to-video space — in real-world production environments with accomplished filmmakers. That kind of high-level creative feedback could prove instrumental in refining generative video models for professional use.
The collaboration also strengthens Google's broader push into the entertainment sector, where it faces competition from Amazon, which has its own AI-related film ventures, and OpenAI, whose Sora video model has attracted attention from Hollywood studios.
A Backlash Already Brewing
The announcement has proven controversial. A24 has built its brand on a reputation for creative risk-taking and a commitment to artistic integrity, having released the work of directors like Ari Aster, Alex Garland, and the Daniels. For many of the studio's devoted audience, a partnership with Google DeepMind sits uneasily with that identity.
Reactions across film communities and social media have been mixed. Horror fans in particular raised questions about the deal, with some outlets noting the tension between A24's artist-friendly image and its embrace of a technology that many in the industry fear could displace creative workers.
The concerns echo broader anxieties that have swept through Hollywood since the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes, where protections against AI were a central demand. While A24 insists its AI tools will assist rather than replace artists, skepticism remains high among industry professionals who have watched generative AI rapidly encroach on creative disciplines.
The Broader Entertainment AI Landscape
The A24-DeepMind venture is the latest in a series of deals signaling that the film and television industry's relationship with AI is shifting from resistance to cautious experimentation. Studios are increasingly exploring AI for tasks ranging from visual effects and dubbing to script analysis and audience prediction.
What sets the A24 deal apart is its scale and its explicit framing as a research partnership rather than a simple vendor relationship. The $75 million commitment suggests both companies see long-term potential in co-developing AI tools specifically designed for cinematic storytelling, rather than adapting general-purpose models after the fact.
The deal also comes at a sensitive moment for Google's AI ambitions. Alphabet shares have sold off sharply in recent days amid a wave of high-profile talent departures from DeepMind, including Nobel laureate John Jumper's move to Anthropic. The A24 partnership may serve as a signal that DeepMind remains committed to ambitious external collaborations even as it navigates internal turbulence.
What Comes Next
Specifics about what the A24-DeepMind venture will actually produce remain, as some observers have noted, "disconcertingly vague." Neither company has detailed a product roadmap or timeline, and it is unclear whether the tools developed will be exclusive to A24 or eventually made available more broadly.
What is clear is that the intersection of AI and independent cinema is entering a new phase. Whether A24 can maintain its artistic credibility while embracing the technology that many of its fans distrust will be one of the most closely watched stories in entertainment in the months ahead.
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