Google's AI Futures Fund has backed Animaj, a Paris studio that uses AI to speed up animation production. The size of the investment was not disclosed.
Besides funding, Animaj gets early access to new models in Google's Gemini, Imagen and Veo lines and hands-on help from Google staff, according to Kidscreen reporting cited by Tubefilter. The studio already relies on tools such as a sketch-to-motion workflow to shorten production.
Co-founder and CEO Sixte de Vauplane wrote on LinkedIn that the models would be built around how artists actually work and could let the studio finish an animated feature in around 18 months, against up to six years conventionally, without taking control away from creators.
The deal comes as YouTube, also owned by Google, deals with a flood of low-quality AI animation. Animaj has tried to set itself apart on quality, including through a Hasbro partnership on compliant advertising around children's content.
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