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Why Google just bet $75M on A24
2026.06.23What's up, Carat crew here. 🤗 Today we've got Google's big bet on film studio A24, a Korean creator going viral with ads for products that don't exist, and a prompt that turns your photo into a handmade puppet. Let's get into it.
🔥 Google DeepMind is building AI filmmaking tools with A24
Google DeepMind is partnering with U.S. film studio A24 to build AI filmmaking tools, and it's putting $75 million into the deal. A24 is the studio behind films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Hereditary.
The two will research production-ready workflows, like AI storyboards that flag problems before a single frame is shot. This isn't an IP or data-training deal, though, and filmmakers keep full creative control.
Google DeepMind says the goal is to fold its research straight into the creative process, so filmmakers can shape the tools around their own vision.
📌 3 more stories today
1️⃣ Ads for products that don't even exist?
A Korean creator called 404product is blowing up on X right now. They make slick ads for fake products that don't exist, and the quality is good enough to pass for the real thing.
The standout is an ad for a hand-shaped gadget that cools you down. A little hand clings to your back and fans you on a packed subway or at a summer ballgame, and you keep watching even though the product makes no sense. a16z's Justine Moore shared it too, saying “no idea what he's saying, but I'm a fan,” and it pulled in over 3,700 likes.
You can make these fake-product ads on Carat too, with its video models. 👉 Create it on Carat
2️⃣ Fugu hit the top without a model of its own
Japanese AI lab Sakana AI just dropped two new models, Fugu and Fugu Ultra. Instead of training one giant model, Fugu acts like a conductor, picking the right outside models for each task and blending their answers.
The scores are the surprise. With no model of its own, Fugu matches Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos on several coding and reasoning tests, even though those two aren't public and aren't in Fugu's pool. Fugu and Fugu Ultra launched on June 22, along with the research papers behind them.
3️⃣ Hand Claude a task and walk away, it keeps working
Anthropic brought Cowork, Claude's task assistant, to your phone. With Cowork, you hand off a task and Claude takes care of it on its own.
You can kick off and steer tasks right from your phone, and check in across phone or desktop. Even if you close the app, the work keeps running in the background. Drop a task on your commute and pick up the results later.
🧪 Prompt of the day
Turn your photo into a handmade puppet
Turning your photo into a handmade puppet is having a moment right now. So the Carat team tried it in the style of old-school European TV puppets like Pat & Mat. Chunky bodies, clay faces, long noses, the charm is in how clumsy they look.
Use ChatGPT Image 2 Medium to transform my photo. Prompt: Create a handmade stop-motion puppet group strongly inspired by the reference puppet duo style.
Reference image for puppet style: https://assets.carat-api.im/upload_from_app/3052856/20260618/56b99a00-18f7-442a-8736-809fa66f6d44.webp
The most important goal is to make the characters look like simple old European children's TV puppets, not cute fashion dolls, not polished toy figures, not anime dolls, and not pretty collectible dolls.
Use the uploaded photo only as a styling reference for hairstyle, outfit colors, clothing shapes, accessories, and group pose. Reinterpret the people as awkward handmade puppets.
Strongly preserve the original puppet reference proportions:
short stubby legs, short arms, compact chunky torso, oversized round head, wide simple body, thick shoes, and a squat "short and chubby" silhouette. The characters must look clumsy, handmade, and slightly awkward.
Facial style:
very simple tan clay faces, tiny vertical black dot eyes, long rounded protruding nose, tiny straight-line mouth, no realistic facial features, no makeup, no eyelashes, no detailed eyes, no pretty face, no human-like beauty. The face should look plain, funny, and minimal, like the reference puppet duo.
Hair and clothes:
Apply the hairstyle, hair color, outfit colors, accessories, and overall styling from the uploaded photo, but simplify everything into handmade fabric and clay puppet materials. Hair should look like simple yarn, felt, or clay strips, not realistic silky hair. Clothes should look like miniature handmade fabric sewn onto puppets, slightly loose and imperfect.
Composition:
Keep the same number of main people from the uploaded photo, whether there are 2, 3, or 4 people. Keep their relative positions and main pose, but simplify it into a puppet group portrait.
Background:
plain white studio background, full-body product photo, soft even lighting
Make your own on Carat right now. 👉 Create it on Carat
AI keeps creeping closer, from film sets to the phone in your hand. If something here caught your eye, pass it along to a friend. See you tomorrow with more. 😊
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