Google reportedly discussing licenses for Hollywood studio content for AI — The Verge
Google is reportedly approaching major Hollywood studios about licensing copyrighted content for training artificial intelligence models. As The Verge reports, citing unnamed Los Angeles Times sources, the company has not yet reached formal agreements with Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, or Universal.
Possible terms of the deals
According to the publication, Google executives are discussing access to studios’ libraries of copyrighted materials with studio representatives. The company is allegedly willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on such deals.
The Los Angeles Times estimates that Google could pay a studio such as Disney / Pixar about $40 million for the right to generate outputs using one copyrighted character. Potential payments could reach billions of dollars if the deals cover more characters. Studios could also receive a share of Google’s advertising revenue from AI content featuring their intellectual property, including on YouTube.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Risks for studios
Such licenses could enable Google to use Gemini to create rights-holder-approved images of characters, including Darth Vader or Snow White. In The Verge author’s view, this could strengthen the company’s position in the generative AI market and affect how audiences perceive the technology.
At the same time, the publication points to risks for industry workers and viewers’ reactions. Using AI to speed up production and reduce costs could potentially reduce the need for some specialists. The author also mentions fans’ negative reaction to AI-generated images in the official art book for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
Lionsgate entered into a licensing agreement with Runway in 2024. The companies said they were working on releasing short videos created with AI, but have not yet presented specific results of the partnership.
