Google and A24’s AI Partnership Announcement Is Not Going Down Well
A24 has defended the deal, which it says “won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.”
Earlier this month, Backrooms director Kane Parsons, who helmed the highest-grossing film to date for studio A24, said, “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.” Smash cut to this week, and A24 has inked an AI research partnership deal with Google’s DeepMind outfit to help develop AI-powered tech for filmmakers.
A24 Labs head Scott Belsky defended the deal, telling The Wall Street Journal that “We think there are better uses [of AI] that preserve creative control and support risk-taking,” and that these new AI tools “won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with,” while Eli Collins, a VP at DeepMind, added, “We believe breakthroughs happen when you get technology into the hands of the best minds in the field.”
As you can imagine, Google’s $75 million investment in A24 for these purposes has not gone down well with fans of the indie entertainment company, which has already been scoring home runs at the box office with lower-budget titles like awards darling Everything Everywhere All at Once and Parsons’ Backrooms. Instead, social media feeds have been blasted with negative comments since the deal was announced.
“It’s quite disappointing that a company that just enjoyed the triumphant box office returns of staunchly anti-AI Kane Parsons’ BACKROOMS would make such a deal,” wrote filmmaker and actress Justine Bateman over on X. “All A24 directors should prepare to have your films altered against your wishes with this deal. Google is the company who bastardized THE WIZARD OF OZ for the Vegas Sphere run, inserting corporate CEO’s faces into the crowd, removing the director’s focus choices, etc.”
Other negative reactions also flooded in. “Incredible how Backrooms marketing and so much of the director’s stuff involves talking about how cool Blender is and how anyone can use it for production,” posted one writer. “To see that from A24 and then decide ‘yeah we need to push for ai’ is just insane. We really are in the worst timeline.” Another artist, posting “with all the love in the world for A24”, wrote, “You guys are doing just fine, you don’t need google money.”
Variety notes that the deal “does not give Google access to A24’s content library or its data,” and that it will allow A24 access to DeepMind’s research and infrastructure, while DeepMind collaborates with A24 to “build out new workflows.”
Although many filmmakers and fans remain unhappy about A24’s new partnership with Google, it’s unlikely to reverse the deal even as the backlash continues. This marks the first collab of its kind between DeepMind and a studio instead of a specific filmmaker, and it’s reportedly a multi-year contract.