A24's $75M Google DeepMind Deal Sparks Fan Backlash Over AI in Indie Film
The beloved indie studio is defending its research partnership with Google DeepMind as a way to shape artist tools, but its audience isn't convinced.
What matters
- A24 has a $75 million research partnership with Google DeepMind through its A24 Labs division, overseen by cofounder Scott Belsky.
- The deal is framed as research to develop filmmaking tools and workflows, not to replace human creativity.
- A24's defense: it wants a seat at the table to shape AI tools for artists rather than sit out the conversation.
- Fans who built A24's brand around artisanal indie cinema are pushing back against the AI pivot.
- The studio's recent horror hit Backrooms passed $300 million worldwide, highlighting its growth from boutique distributor to major player.
What happened
A24, the indie studio behind films like Moonlight, The Witch, Midsommar, and Everything Everywhere All at Once, has entered a $75 million research partnership with Google DeepMind, Google's in-house AI lab. According to Wired reporting cited by The Playlist, the deal is part of A24 Labs, a technology startup within the company overseen by cofounder Scott Belsky, and is designed to develop filmmaking tools and workflows.
The partnership was first reported by Wired, and A24 has since gone on the defensive. The studio's core argument: it would rather participate in shaping AI tools for artists than sit on the sidelines. A24 reportedly acknowledged why people are upset, but maintains that the research-oriented deal is about building better creative workflows rather than replacing human craft.
The timing is notable. A24's most recent release, the horror film Backrooms, recently passed $300 million worldwide—a commercial milestone that underscores how much the studio has grown from boutique distributor to major industry player.
Why it matters
A24 spent more than a decade cultivating a brand identity around artisanal, cinephile taste. For its audience—many of whom treat the studio as a lifestyle brand—AI represents what The Playlist called "one of the ugliest words in contemporary film culture." The collision between A24's carefully curated indie cool and the AI industry puts a spotlight on a tension the entire film world is navigating: who gets to shape the tools, and at what cost to creative labor?
The deal also signals that AI partnerships in entertainment are moving beyond big-budget studios like Disney or Netflix. A mid-size, taste-driven studio like A24 partnering with DeepMind suggests AI tooling is becoming normalized across the production pipeline, not just in VFX-heavy blockbusters.
The $75 million figure is substantial for a company of A24's scale, indicating this is a serious strategic bet rather than an experimental side project.
Public reaction
No strong Reddit or public discussion signal was available in the captured sources for this story. However, The Playlist's reporting indicates that online reaction has been "much less forgiving" than A24's corporate framing, with fans expressing frustration across social platforms where the studio has historically enjoyed strong goodwill.
What to watch
- Whether A24 Labs produces any publicly demonstrated tools or workflows from the DeepMind partnership, and whether those tools are positioned as artist-facing or production-facing.
- How A24's filmmaker collaborators respond—whether directors and writers in the A24 orbit publicly support or distance themselves from the deal.
- Whether other indie or mid-size studios follow A24's lead into AI research partnerships, or whether the backlash creates a chilling effect.
- The specifics of what "research" entails—whether it involves training models on existing film assets, developing generative tools, or building workflow automation.
Sources
Public reaction
No Reddit or structured public discussion data was available in the captured sources. The Playlist's reporting indicates online reaction has been largely negative, with fans expressing frustration across social platforms where A24 has historically enjoyed strong goodwill.
Signals
- Fan backlash against A24's AI pivot
- Tension between A24's indie brand identity and corporate AI partnership
- Skepticism about whether 'research' framing adequately addresses creative labor concerns
Open questions
- How are A24's affiliated filmmakers and talent responding privately or publicly to the deal?
- Will the DeepMind partnership produce consumer-facing AI tools, or remain internal research?
- Does the backlash translate into measurable changes in audience behavior, such as ticket sales or subscription cancellations?
What to do next
Developers
Monitor A24 Labs for any public APIs, SDKs, or tool releases stemming from the DeepMind partnership, and assess whether they offer novel filmmaking workflows.
A24 Labs is explicitly building filmmaking tools and workflows; if any developer-facing components emerge, they could represent a new category of creative AI tooling.
Founders
Study how A24 frames its AI partnership as 'having a seat at the table' and consider whether a similar positioning strategy could work for your own AI-adjacent startup facing user skepticism.
The messaging strategy—participation over avoidance—is a template other companies entering contested AI spaces may need to adopt or improve upon.
PMs
Track the gap between A24's corporate framing and audience reception to understand how brand identity constrains AI product strategy in taste-driven markets.
This case study illustrates how a loyal user base built on artisanal values can become a liability when pivoting toward AI, a dynamic relevant to any PM in a brand-sensitive vertical.
Investors
Assess whether the $75M DeepMind deal signals a broader trend of mid-size studios making significant AI infrastructure bets, and evaluate the risk-reward of similar partnerships in the entertainment sector.
If A24's bet normalizes AI research partnerships across indie and mid-size studios, it could reshape capital allocation in entertainment technology.
Operators
Watch whether A24 integrates any DeepMind-developed tools into its actual production pipeline, and whether those integrations are communicated to audiences or kept internal.
The operational impact of the deal depends on whether it changes how A24 films are actually made, and whether that change is visible or invisible to consumers.
Testing notes
Caveats
- This is a corporate research partnership, not a released product or developer tool. No public-facing tool, API, or platform is available to test. The deal's outputs are internal to A24 Labs and Google DeepMind, and no concrete product has been announced.