Google, Meta bid millions for Hollywood content as AI licensing race heats up

Google and Meta want access to Hollywood studios' vast content libraries to improve their AI video models
A representational image of the Google AI logo. — Google AI
A representational image of the Google AI logo. — Google AI

The artificial intelligence (AI) content licensing war is heating up, with Google and Meta joining the race to access Hollywood content in OpenAI. Tech companies are reportedly offering tens of millions of dollars to partner with Hollywood studios, aiming to train their video generation models with the studios' libraries of Vats content.

Google and Meta want access to Hollywood studios' vast content libraries to improve their AI video models. Google recently announced its AI video model, Veo, while Meta is rumoured to be working on a similar model.

However, studios are concerned about losing control over how the tech giant will use their content. Netflix and Walt Disney have refused to license their content, while Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to license certain programmes. Studios are interested in forming partnerships but are wary of terms.

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The AI licensing war is intensifying, with Google's Meta and OpenAI competing for access to the most extensive and high-quality content libraries. The goal is to train their AI models to produce more accurate and engaging content.

However, the recent incident involving Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI has raised concerns about Hollywood studios losing control over their content. There are also concerns about the potential misuse of AI-generated content.

Despite the controversy, OpenAI has been able to enter into some content licensing agreements with media publications. He reportedly signed a deal with News Corp — the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, and other publications like Barron's, the New York Post, The Daily Telegraph, and others. Also, both tech giants Google and OpenAI have signed an agreement to access real-time content from Reddit.