According to Bloomberg, Google is funneling $1 million from its AI Futures Fund Accelerator program to a company called Animagi that creates AI-generated videos for children. Animaj will also reportedly get early access to Google’s Veo video model before it’s released to the public, with special insights from Google’s AI division, DeepMind.
According to the description on Animaj’s YouTube channel, the company “uses an AI-driven, digital-first, multi-platform approach to acquire iconic kids IP and turn it into global franchises.”
This is an Animaj video from 2 years ago.
But YouTube just quietly became the world’s largest media company, beating out Disney’s media division last year, according to a recent analysis by research firm MoffettNathanson.
A New York Times analysis of YouTube content last month found that after watching 15 minutes of recommended content after popular non-AI content, 40% of the content materialized was generated by AI and was often not labeled as such. The content is mostly disjointed, with goo extruding from containers into animal shapes, rhinos transforming into quadcopter drones, and animals transforming into objects.
Bloomberg cited Animaj co-founder Sixte de Vauplane as saying that the company has brought 22 billion video views to YouTube across all its channels. “Google is aware of the AI slop issues that are currently occurring on YouTube,” he told Bloomberg.
This cash injection from Google is relatively small. According to Bloomberg, Animagi has raised 100 million euros from venture capital firm Left Lane Capital and $85 million from Harborview Equity Partners.
