Google is putting big money behind a new Hollywood push to make artificial intelligence look less scary—and that has some in the entertainment world worried that studios could start turning to AI instead of real writers and filmmakers.
The tech giant’s new “AI on Screen” initiative is funding short films that show AI in a more positive light, moving away from the doomsday scenarios seen in movies like The Terminator or Ex Machina. Google is teaming up with Santa Monica’s Range Media Partners to produce these shorts, hoping to change how Americans think about AI.
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Two films have already been approved. Sweetwater, directed by Michael Keaton and written by his son Sean Douglas, is about a man who finds a hologram of his late celebrity mother in his childhood home. The other, Lucid, tells the story of a couple who risk everything on a device that lets them share the same dream, trying to escape their tough reality.
Google’s move comes as Americans remain skeptical about AI. A survey from 2024 found that 56% of Americans think AI does “equal amounts of harm and good,” while 31% believe it does “more harm than good.” By funding films that make AI look more helpful and friendly, Google hopes to shift public opinion.
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The company says these shorts aren’t just ads for AI, but aim to show a more balanced view of people and technology working together, instead of just focusing on the dangers. Creators working with Google get access to tech experts to help make the stories realistic, and some of these shorts could even become full-length movies.
But this push comes at a sensitive time. Hollywood’s recent strikes were fueled in part by fears that actors’ and writers’ work could be copied or replaced by AI without permission or pay. Now, with Google and other tech companies trying to make AI seem less threatening, there are real concerns that studios might see AI as a cheaper, faster alternative to hiring human creators.
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Even as Google tries to soften AI’s image, Hollywood keeps making movies about the dangers of the technology—like M3GAN and Afraid. Whether Google’s big-budget PR campaign will actually change minds, or if audiences will keep flocking to stories about AI gone wrong, is still up in the air.
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