‘Squid Game’ Creator Invests in AI Firm TwelveLabs to Speed Up Production (EXCLUSIVE)

Firstman Studio, the production company founded by “Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, has made a significant $3 million investment in the AI technology firm TwelveLabs. This strategic move aims to accelerate production workflows by leveraging advanced video indexing and metadata enrichment tools. The San Francisco-based company, established by co-founders Jae Lee, Soyoung Lee, Dave Chung, SJ Kim, and Aiden Lee, collaborates with studios, streaming platforms, and creators to enhance how video content is managed and utilized.

Hwang expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, noting that modern storytelling demands both speed and global appeal. He believes technology like TwelveLabs will be essential for translating creative ideas into finished productions at the pace today’s audiences anticipate. AI tools, he added, are unlocking cinematic possibilities that were once unimaginable, allowing filmmakers to dedicate more energy to the artistic and emotional core of their projects.

Unlike generative AI systems that produce entirely new content, TwelveLabs emphasizes enhancing existing material. The company’s video foundation models analyze visual, audio, and contextual elements within footage, enabling rapid searches across extensive archives. This capability addresses a major industry challenge: the underutilization of valuable archived content. In many studios, less than five percent of footage gets repurposed due to the labor-intensive process of locating, verifying rights for, and preparing clips.

Soyoung Lee, co-founder and head of go-to-market strategy at TwelveLabs, highlighted that countless hours of high-value footage remain dormant because searching through them is too cumbersome. The firm’s technology makes video instantly searchable and ready for large-scale use, helping media companies and independent creators extract greater value from their existing libraries.

In a discussion about the collaboration, TwelveLabs CEO Jae Lee explained that Hwang’s investment stemmed from a shared interest in innovation. The director was particularly intrigued by the AI’s ability to grasp the emotional and narrative nuances of scenes, not just superficial details. This depth of analysis resonated with Hwang’s filmmaking approach, as it reduces technical obstacles and grants creators more time to concentrate on storytelling.

The long-term objective for TwelveLabs is to index every video globally and make it as accessible and understandable as text. With over ninety percent of the world’s data existing in video format, much of it lies dormant in archives. By enabling machines to comprehend context, tone, and emotion within videos, the company aims to transform passive video libraries into dynamic resources that support creative endeavors and new forms of media experiences.

For creators like Hwang, the primary benefit is regained time. Filmmakers often lose hours to administrative tasks such as cataloging footage, restoring old clips, or navigating rights clearances. TwelveLabs streamlines these processes, allowing professionals to focus on directing, editing, and developing compelling narratives. This efficiency doesn’t replace human decision-making but rather amplifies it by handling routine technical work.

Addressing concerns about AI in creative industries, TwelveLabs distinguishes its technology from generative models that attempt to automate content creation. The company’s tools are designed to assist rather than replace, empowering editors and producers to work more effectively with the assets they already own. The critical creative choices, what stories to tell and how to tell them, remain firmly in human hands.

(Source: Variety)