Google wants to see its generative AI video tool Flow gain a foothold among creatives, and is bringing a filmmaker in-house to help it do so.
The tech giant says that it has brought on filmmaker and creative director Henry Daubrez to work as a filmmaker in residence at Google Labs, where he will create new content using the company’s tools, help shape Flow as a product, and mentor other filmmakers through what the company is calling Flow Sessions.
Flow Sessions will give participants complimentary access to Flow, as well as guidance and mentorship. Google officially rolled out Flow earlier this year alongside a partnership with Darren Aronofsky and his new venture Primordial Soup.
“We often only offered text to video [in prior models], but the quality of the model had reached a point where we started seeing highly creative folks starting to create three, four minute kind of shorts. And that told us, okay, there’s something there,” Thomas Iljic, product lead at Google Labs, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview at the time.
Daubrez was one of those filmmakers, creating the film Electric Pink using the tool (you can watch that film below). He is also developing The Enchanted Door, a project that will let Flow users jump into the story to decide what happens next.
Generative AI video tools are proliferating, with some AI-focused filmmakers already using the tools on a daily basis. Meanwhile, every Hollywood studio is AI-curious, hoping that the tools can help drive down costs and increase productivity, even as they remain wary of copyright concerns.
As one of the world’s largest tech giants, Google’s position in the space is a commanding one, though competition from the likes of Meta, OpenAI and others is fierce. The company is betting that a deeper relationship with creatives can help it stand out in a marketplace where video tools are beginning to expand in quality, availability, and accessibility.