Google reportedly seeks Hollywood licensing deals to train its AI on copyrighted films

Google is pursuing licensing agreements with Hollywood's biggest studios that would let it train AI models on copyrighted films and television in exchange for large payments, according to a report in The Los Angeles Times, relayed by The Verge. No agreement has been reached, but Google executives have been contacting representatives at multiple studios — including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal — with pitches centred on the company's AI technology, the paper reported, citing unnamed sources.

What the deals would look like

The reported numbers are large. According to The Los Angeles Times, Google could pay a studio such as Disney or Pixar around $40 million simply for the right to generate outputs featuring one copyrighted character. As agreements cover more characters, payouts could climb well into the billions, and studios could also negotiate a share of the advertising revenue that AI-generated content built on their intellectual property earns on platforms like YouTube.

Why Google wants Hollywood

The Verge argues the appeal for Google is reputational as much as technical. Public sentiment toward generative AI has turned negative — especially among young people — after years of industry talk about disruption and job cuts. Licensed, studio-approved imagery of famous characters would give Gemini a friendly, consumer-facing showcase, and having Google's name attached to official AI output could legitimise the technology in a way the wider industry has so far failed to achieve. The Verge also notes that Google's DeepMind division struck a $75 million investment deal with the studio A24 earlier this summer, an existing foothold in the entertainment world.

Why studios are hesitating

For the studios, the risk is asymmetric. The Verge points to the reaction around Spider-Man: Brand New Day as a warning: fans were dismayed to find AI-generated images in the film's official art book, though the movie still took $2 billion at the box office. Disney also had a partnership with OpenAI, which included plans to feature user-generated AI content on its platforms, before that arrangement collapsed. And the economics that make AI attractive to shareholders — faster production at lower cost — would, as The Verge notes, likely put a meaningful share of the entertainment workforce out of a job.

A precedent with little to show

There is already a test case. Lionsgate signed a licensing deal with the AI video company Runway in 2024, but according to The Verge nothing concrete has emerged from it; the companies say they are working on a plan to release AI-generated shorts. For major studios weighing Google's offer, that track record of big announcements and thin deliverables adds to the uncertainty.

Why it matters

A signed deal with any of the legacy majors would be, in The Verge's framing, a landmark moment for generative AI. It would signal that traditional entertainment companies treat the technology as worth adopting, giving other production houses cover to follow, and it would move AI training away from material gathered without permission toward negotiated, paid licences. But it would also tie beloved franchises to a technology that many of the creative workers and fans behind them distrust. The Verge's own conclusion is blunt: Google has far more to gain from these deals than the studios do, and Hollywood appears to know it.