Google seeks Hollywood licensing deals to train AI on copyrighted content

Google has approached several of Hollywood’s largest studios—including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal—to negotiate licensing agreements that would allow it to train its AI models on copyrighted material, according to reporting by The Los Angeles Times cited in The Verge. The tech giant is offering substantial financial incentives, with reported payouts reaching hundreds of millions to billions of dollars depending on the breadth of the licensed content.

Per the report, Google has proposed paying around $40 million to a studio like Disney/Pixar for the rights to generate outputs featuring a single copyrighted character, with total deal values scaling upward as more characters and properties are included. The agreements could also entitle studios to a share of advertising revenue generated from AI outputs featuring their intellectual property on platforms such as YouTube.

While no agreements have been officially confirmed by the named studios, the reported outreach reflects Google’s strategy to secure high-quality training data and shift public perception of generative AI. By associating its models with officially licensed studio content, Google aims to present AI-generated outputs as more legitimate and less controversial than those trained on unlicensed data.

The potential benefits for Hollywood include immediate financial gains and the opportunity to position generative AI as a tool for innovation in content creation. However, the risks are significant: integrating AI into production workflows or platform content could alienate audiences and undermine trust, particularly in light of negative public reactions to AI’s use in projects like Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The entertainment industry’s embrace of AI also raises concerns about workforce displacement, as studios seek to reduce costs and accelerate production timelines. Shareholders may favor such efficiencies, but the human cost—including potential job losses—could erode public goodwill and strain relationships with creators.

The Verge notes that Lionsgate, a smaller studio, previously struck a licensing deal with Runway in 2024 to train AI models on its movies and shows, though no concrete outputs have been released to date. The report suggests that once a major studio finalizes a deal with a tech giant like Google, others may follow, accelerating industry-wide adoption of AI tools.