A24 and Google DeepMind AI have announced their partnership, with $75 million invested in the indie studio
A24 is an American independent studio founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges.
Whilst Katz was driving down the Italian Autostrada A24 motorway, he had the idea for A24 as a studio.
Google DeepMind was created in 2023 when it was merged with Google’s Brain; it is an artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory with its headquarters based in London.
Film News Blitz writer Madeline Rhodes examines the impact of this newly-found partnership.
Creativity under pressure
A24’s reputation is built on being an independent film production company that allows original filmmaker-led stories.
Films created by A24 include the recently released Backrooms (2026), The Drama (2026) and Marty Supreme (2025).
The company has stressed that the use of AI will not be used in production; the deal is solely in place for research and development.
Sophia Shin, spokesperson for A24, stated, “We want to dictate what tools get built for artists, and so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to them. We’d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines”
There is a fear that AI-generated content will limit A24’s originality and the films they release in future will feel less unique, which is A24’s trademark in the industry.
As well as the concern that AI could eventually take over the creative side of production to replace creative professionals like screenwriters and editors.
We now live in a time where creatives are feeling threatened by AI, with the ongoing debate being as to whether it is a creative tool or a creative replacement.
Fan backlash
Fans have hit back at A24 for their decision, with comments on X.
@Ruan3D_: “There goes @A24 – was good while it lasted. You slop, you flop.”
@homemadehooplah: “You legit ruin everything. A24 was a great studio, and now you’ve poisoned it with AI slop. I will never seek out their films again.”
@liboar: “Happy to boycott them from this point on. Great job guys!”
This deal has taken a massive hit to A24’s brand and has the fans questioning whether the deal will move the company away from its indie roots.
Some fans are choosing to welcome the partnership by pointing out that the deal doesn’t include AI-generated films but that the AI is in place for research purposes only.
Studios embracing AI
A24 isn’t the first studio to embrace AI. In 2024, Lionsgate announced their partnership with an AI company named Runway.
Since then, streaming platform Netflix has bought out Ben Affleck’s AI post-production company Interpositive for $600 million.
This deal is different from A24’s as it is used to alter footage that has already been filmed.
Being able to help with post-production tasks like adjusting lighting, background replacements and missing shots.
Affleck in an official written statement: “We also need to preserve what makes storytelling human, which is judgment. The kind that takes decades to build, experience to hone and that only people can have. I knew I had a responsibility to my peers and our industry, to protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it. In creating InterPositive, I sought to do just that.”
Risks and rewards
AI generation, as a concept, struggles to adapt alongside film companies, and A24, as stated previously, is not among the first studios to struggle with the challenge of using this tool.
Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki labelled AI as “an insult to life itself”.
He is telling us that the threat is AI replacing human creativity.
In replacing human creativity, AI will continue to be a pest for creatives: writers, editors, designers, all become at risk to the introduction of generative AI.
There are ethical concerns about AI usage in terms of environmental impacts, copyright, and fair accreditation.
In this, we can see the loss of A24’s originality, raising questions about the legitimacy of their cult following, alienating their indie fanbase.
This discussion leaves companies, such as A24, with a difficult perception of risks versus rewards.
In viewing the rewards, we can see AI is beneficial when experimenting with lower production costs and new creative possibilities for companies that will use AI to experiment with what was too difficult or expensive beforehand.
As more studios begin to invest in AI, this deal helps retain A24 as relevant in a vast and progressive industry.
The future of A24
As generative AI begins to progress more, A24 will need to come to the conclusion whether to keep its originality and its status as a key creative among the film industry, or to buckle to generative AI and create a platform around it.
Only time will tell whether A24’s partnership with Google DeepMind was a success or a mistake.
But for now, the debate still stands on whether this is A24’s first step into investing in the future of filmmaking or if it has taken its first steps into slowly moving away from what it originally stood for: independence.
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