Major Studios License Films to OpenAI's Training Data

Netflix, A24, Focus Features, and Warner Bros. are now actively licensing their content to OpenAI—a striking reversal from the entertainment industry's initial hostility toward AI companies scraping their work without permission. This legitimizes AI training as a revenue stream rather than a rights violation. Studios are shifting from viewing generative models as existential threats to be sued into treating them as distribution partners with real licensing budgets. The deals suggest studios have calculated that cooperation is more profitable than litigation, and that controlling which content trains which models matters more than blocking AI altogether.