Google reportedly courting Hollywood studios for AI training licensing deals
Google has reportedly approached major Hollywood studios seeking licensing deals to train its AI models on copyrighted content in exchange for large payments. While lucrative for studios, such deals carry reputational risks tied to audience and worker backlash.
Google has been reaching out to several of Hollywood's largest studios in hopes of striking licensing agreements that would let the company train its AI models on copyrighted material, according to unnamed sources cited by the Los Angeles Times.
While no official deals have yet been reached with studios such as Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, or Universal, Google executives have reportedly pitched multiple studio representatives. Per the report, Google could pay a studio like Disney/Pixar around $40 million for the rights to generate AI outputs featuring a single copyrighted character. Total payouts could swell into the billions if deals cover more characters, and studios might also receive a cut of advertising revenue generated from AI content featuring their IP on platforms like YouTube.
Benefits and risks
Such deals would help Google cement its position in the AI race and could improve public perception of generative AI, which has faced growing distrust, particularly among younger audiences. A partnership with a recognizable studio could lend legitimacy to the technology in the public eye. The report also notes that Google's DeepMind division struck a $75 million investment deal with studio A24 earlier this summer.
At the same time, studios face risks from entering such agreements, both with their workforce and their audiences. Backlash over AI use in film and TV production has already occurred — for instance, fans reacted negatively after discovering AI-generated images in the official artbook for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Lionsgate, a smaller studio, signed a licensing deal with Runway back in 2024, though nothing concrete has emerged from it yet beyond plans for AI-generated shorts. Should one of the major legacy studios move forward and showcase results, others could follow, since AI promises faster and cheaper production — a prospect welcomed by shareholders but one that could put a significant number of industry jobs at risk.
