Google is Collecting AI Contracts Like Thanos Collects Infinity Stones (Warner Bros, You're Next)

When we think of AI, our minds usually drift toward Elon Musk’s humanoid robot, Optimus, or his supercomputer, Project Dojo, which, we’re all hoping, will one day make our cars drive us to work while we take a nap. 

But today, Warner Bros. Discovery is leveraging AI in a much less exciting, more budget-friendly way—automated captions. They’ve teamed up with Google to roll out Caption AI on their Max streaming platform, a tool that’s supposed to cut the cost of generating captions by 50% and shave off 80% of the time.

Warner Bros. could really use those savings. After a painful $9 billion write-down—basically admitting they overpaid for TV contracts that didn’t pan out—their stock has dropped 70% since the 2022 merger with Discovery. If that wasn’t bad enough, they’re now at risk of losing their NBA broadcasting deal to Amazon or Comcast, which could deliver another gut punch to their revenue. Competition in streaming, especially from Netflix and Disney+, isn’t making things easier, either.

Their new play? Partnering with Google’s Vertex AI to patch the leaks. CTO Avi Saxena calls it “improved efficiency,” but really, it’s about cutting corners wherever they can. Maybe saving a few bucks on captions won’t fix everything, but at this point, Warner Bros. is in “whatever helps” mode.

On the other side of the deal, Google is out here collecting AI partnership deals like Thanos collects Infinity Stones. While Warner Bros. fights to stay relevant, Google is sitting back, growing its AI empire one partnership at a time. 

Google’s Cloud division raked in $8 billion last quarter, up 28% from last year, and deals like this one are why. From helping Deutsche Bank enhance financial services with AI tools to enabling Shopify merchants to improve customer experiences, Google’s turning AI into a major profit center. And Warner Bros. is just the latest company to sign the dotted line.

Google’s stock is up 16% year to date, while Warner Bros is down 30% year to date (just trying to keep the lights on).

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Stock.News has positions in Google, Amazon, and Netflix.