French media group Canal+ announced on Wednesday multi-year agreements with Google Cloud and OpenAI to integrate generative artificial intelligence into both its content production workflows and streaming platform. The move aims to enhance personalized recommendations and bolster Canal+’s goal of reaching 100 million subscribers by 2030, positioning it as a stronger competitor to platforms like Netflix.
The partnerships are “very complementary,” Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada told Reuters, explaining that Google’s focus will be on data extraction while OpenAI’s technology will power search and recommendation engines to improve the overall subscriber experience. The combined AI systems will index Canal+’s entire content library to deliver more precise, individualized viewing suggestions.
In addition to recommendation improvements, Canal+ will provide production teams access to Google’s video generative AI tool, Veo 3, enabling creators to pre-visualize scenes before shooting or reconstruct historical moments from archival photographs.
Starting in June 2026, the updated system will allow subscribers to go beyond traditional keyword searches. Users will be able to make natural-language requests and receive tailored suggestions powered by AI. Saada emphasized the role of Google’s AI in analyzing movie and show content, identifying scene elements, and enabling OpenAI’s models to enhance both search and recommendation engines.
The rollout will cover European and African markets where the Canal+ app is available. Canal+ also highlighted that intellectual property rights are safeguarded within the partnerships, with all assets and content protected in Google Cloud’s secure environment.