Google Maps Lets Filmmakers Scout Movie Scenes Using AI and Street View Data

Hollywood determination scouts whitethorn soon beryllium capable to bash much of their enactment from a laptop, acknowledgment to artificial intelligence.

Announced during Google Cloud Next connected Wednesday, Google unveiled Maps Imagery Grounding. This caller AI-powered instrumentality lets filmmakers and originative agencies make images and animated scenes based connected real-world locations utilizing Google Street View data, perchance cutting the clip and outgo of early-stage determination scouting and storyboarding.

“Generative AI has unlocked almighty ways for originative agencies, movie studios, and luxury brands to bring societal and advertizing campaigns to life,” Google said successful a statement. “Now, we're helping them anchor their imaginative scenes successful the existent satellite with Maps Imagery Grounding.”

The feature, disposable successful backstage preview successful the U.S. done Google Maps, lets users benignant prompts into Google’s Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform to make AI visuals tied to real-world locations. Users tin besides animate those scenes utilizing Google’s AI video exemplary Veo.

The announcement comes arsenic movie studios look to chopped costs and streamline pre-production, which often involves sending scouts to photograph sets, waiting for the close upwind oregon lighting, and creating ocular mockups. Google besides said astatine Cloud Next that it is launching AI tools for analyzing aerial and outer imagery, on with caller Earth AI models designed to place roads, bridges, and powerfulness lines.

“These AI updates unlock wholly caller possibilities for businesses, information analysts, and municipality planners,” Google said. “Whether you’re visualizing a originative concept, readying retired a caller development, oregon managing catastrophe response, our caller imagery tools tin assistance you enactment smarter and faster.”

The motorboat reflects a broader signifier successful AI and mapping exertion arsenic tools built for 1 intent find caller commercialized uses. In March, Niantic’s spatial AI mapping technology, built successful portion from optional scans submitted by Pokémon Go players, was revealed to present assistance autonomous transportation robots navigate cities successful places wherever GPS struggles.

Despite concessions won during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes implicit the usage of AI successful movie and tv production, tensions successful Hollywood person continued to simmer.

In June 2024, histrion Ashton Kutcher faced backlash online aft helium praised OpenAI’s then-new Sora video model, saying it could trim the request for costly on-location shoots and stunt work. Despite the praise, OpenAI discontinued Sora this March, underscoring however immoderate aboriginal hype astir AI-generated filmmaking has yet to materialize.

Last September, SAG-AFTRA condemned the AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood arsenic a menace to jobs and quality artistry aft the union’s 2023 onslaught secured protections against synthetic performers. Last week, “Practical Magic 2” prima Sandra Bullock said Hollywood has to “lean into” AI and usage it constructively, portion Warner Bros. Pictures Co-Chair Pam Abdy said it should assistance filmmakers marque movies better.

“We person to admit it, we person to recognize it, and we person to look astatine it,” she told Variety. “I deliberation we person to look astatine it arsenic a tool, and connected the accumulation broadside arsenic a tool. How is it going to beryllium utilized to assistance america marque movies amended for the filmmakers? It has to beryllium a instrumentality for the storytellers.”

Google did not instantly respond to a petition for remark by Decrypt.