Alphabet, Meta Engage Hollywood Studios in Major AI Video Licensing Deals

Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL and Meta Platforms Inc. META have discussed licensing content with major Hollywood studios for their AI video generation software. 

These companies are developing technology to create realistic scenes from text prompts and have offered substantial sums to partner with studios. 

Peer Microsoft Corp MSFT backed OpenAI is engaged in similar talks, Bloomberg reports.

Hollywood studios want to use AI to cut costs but ensure their work isn’t misused. They are cautious about licensing content without control over its use. 

Recently, Scarlett Johansson demanded that OpenAI stop using a voice resembling hers for its chatbot.

On Wednesday, News Corp NWS NWSA agreed to let OpenAI use content from its publications in a deal potentially worth over $250 million over five years. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc WBD is open to licensing specific programs but not its entire library. 

Walt Disney Co DIS and Netflix Inc NFLX are interested in other collaborations but not licensing their content.

New AI tools, like OpenAI’s Sora and Alphabet’s Veo, promise to help filmmakers create vivid clips from text descriptions, causing excitement and anxiety in the industry.

Previously, the U.S. Big Tech companies and news publishers were at loggerheads over AI’s influence, particularly regarding the unauthorized use of the latter’s content for AI training. 

Google’s AI search bred concerns for publishers over losing a substantial portion of their Google-generated traffic.

Reports indicated Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet committed over $32 billion in AI infrastructure in the first quarter of 2024.

Price Actions: At the last check Friday, GOOGL shares traded higher by 0.52% at $174.45 premarket. META was up 0.41% at $467.70.

Photo by De Andre Bush via Unsplash