Google is funneling $1 million from its AI Futures Fund accelerator program into a company called Animaj, which makes AI-generated videos for kids, according to Bloomberg. Animaj will also reportedly get early access to Google’s Veo video models before they’re released to the public, and will be given special insights from DeepMind, Google’s AI division.
According to Animaj’s YouTube channel description, it “acquires and turns iconic Kids’ IPs into global franchises using an AI-driven, digital-first, and multi-platform approach.”
Here’s an Animaj video from two years ago:
But the way, according to a recent piece of analysis by the research firm MoffettNathanson, YouTube just quietly became the world’s largest media company last year, beating Disney’s media division.
An analysis of YouTube content last month by the New York Times found in 15-minutes of watching content recommended after a popular, non-AI piece of content, 40% of what materialized appeared to be AI-generated, often without being labeled as such. This content is largely incoherent mush, like goo being sluiced out of containers into the shapes of animals, and animals transforming into things—like a rhino transforming into a quadcopter drone.
Bloomberg cites Animaj co-founder Sixte de Vauplane as saying the company drew 22 billion video views to YouTube across all of its channels. “Google knows the problem and the issue of AI slop that is happening right now on YouTube,” he told Bloomberg.
This cash injection from Google is relatively minuscule. Animaj has, according to Bloomberg, previously raised 100 million euros from the VC firm Left Lane Capital, and $85 million from HarbourView Equity Partners.
Source: gizmodo.com
