Meta And Alphabet Offer Millions Of Dollars To Hollywood For AI Partnership

Meta and Alphabet are in discussions with Hollywood Studios to license content for artificial intelligence technologies. According to Bloomberg, “people familiar with the matter” confirmed this information and explained the tech giants are interested in video generation software and have offered tens of millions of dollars for a partnership.

This story came out days after Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson requested OpenAI clarify how the Sky chatbot voice, which sounds eerily like her own, was developed. The story raised awareness of AI use and the human right to protect their own identity.

OpenAI has also been in discussions with Hollywood to reach business agreements in the past few weeks.

“Hollywood Studios are keen to discuss ways to use AI to reduce costs while also protecting themselves from having their work stolen,” explains reporter Lucas Shaw in the article. “They are wary of giving films and TV shows to tech companies without control over how that content is used.”

According to a recent discussion on Bloomberg Television, Disney and Netflix have denied the request for agreements with the tech giants, but Warner Bros. is “weighing a decision.”

Bloomberg’s reporter Alex Webb explains that, for tech companies invested in developing generative AI products, “this is really about how to find the next wave of data to train a new generation” of AI. What Hollywood studios would gain with the alliance—besides money upfront— is a powerful technology to improve productions at a lower cost and create better content, like enhanced special effects.

AI tools are already used in video production and have amazed prominent figures in the industry. American actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry put his $800 million studio investment on hold after seeing Sora (OpenAI’s text-to-video software) perform.

While Hollywood could have the right to license a movie to a tech company, the fear of the consequences extends to relationships with creative partners. Not all actors have similar considerations regarding AI, and it could rekindle tensions with the union of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) after recent strikes surrounding similar subject matter.