What Is Utopai Studios? The AI-Native Studio Behind PAI

Utopai Studios is an AI-native film and TV production company that developed out of the software startup Cybever in August 2025. Co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Cecilia Shen leads the studio from its headquarters in Mountain View, California. The company pairs an internal entertainment production slate scheduled for 2027 releases with a commercial software platform called Production Assistive Intelligence (PAI).

PAI, Utopai's production engine, covers script breakdown, storyboards, video generation and export to Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. Utopai Studios develops its own slate of original films and series with partners such as Globoplay, Ex Machina Studios and K5 International.

What Utopai Studios Is

Utopai Studios develops its own films and series, about 25 projects by its own count, and sells PAI, a production engine that includes its Utopai X video model.

The address on the Utopai Studios homepage is 215 Castro Street, 3rd floor, Mountain View, CA 94041. Cecilia Shen's Utopai bio says technology should serve storytellers, with taste, direction and authorship kept in human hands.

• Founded as: Cybever in 2022 by Cecilia Shen and Jie Yang
• Rebranded: Utopai Studios on August 26, 2025
• Headquarters: 215 Castro Street, 3rd Floor, Mountain View, CA 94041
• Chief Executive Officer: Cecilia Shen
• Chief Technology Officer: Jie Yang
• What it makes: Original feature films, television series, and production software
• Core product: Production Assistive Intelligence (PAI) creator platform
• Recent milestone: Headline partner and keynote presenter at MIPCOM Cannes in October 2026

The Pivot From Cybever to Utopai Studios

The corporate foundation of Utopai Studios began in 2022 when Cecilia Shen and Jie Yang established Cybever as a technology company focused on generating 3D virtual environments and video. Forbes reports that Cybever initially made AI tools for generating 3D environments for games.

On September 12, 2024, Cybever announced the beta of its 3D world creation platform via a Business Wire announcement.

On August 26, 2025, the company executed a public rebrand from Cybever to Utopai Studios. Shen told Forbes: "You can't become a $10 billion dollar company as just a technology provider. You have to become a studio." Readers can learn more about the executive background in our profile on who is Cecilia Shen.

Executive Leadership and Corporate Structure

Cecilia Shen is co-founder and chief executive officer, per her Utopai bio. Co-founder Jie Yang serves as chief technology officer (CTO), and Zijian He is co-founder and chief scientific officer (CSO), as detailed in coverage from Advanced Television.

The entertainment production division expanded when producer Marco Weber joined during the summer 2025 rebrand. Weber, who is CEO of Ex Machina Studios according to the Space Nation project page, was identified by Forbes as co-CEO at rebrand, though Variety India's August 2026 piece lists only Shen (CEO) and Yang (CTO) as leadership and calls Weber "Ex Machina CEO." His current Utopai title is unconfirmed. Kevin Chong, founding CEO of Utopai East, now serves as chief operating officer (COO).

On November 3, 2025, Utopai announced a joint venture named Utopai East with Stock Farm Road, co-founded by Brian Koo and Dr. Amin Badr-El-Din, via Business Wire. In February 2026, Utopai East acquired Alquimista Media, a Seoul-based production entity founded by Hyun Park, bringing over 15 scripted projects into development. Park, previously Head of the Global Division at CJ ENM's Studio Dragon, became President of Utopai Studios' Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. On August 27, 2026, Utopai Studios formally completed the full corporate absorption of Utopai East, as reported by Advanced Television. For an overview of similar entertainment ventures, explore our guide to AI-native film studios.

The 2027 Film and Television Slate

Utopai Studios claims an active development and production slate of approximately 25 film and television projects, with major releases scheduled to debut in 2027. One project is Cortés, a historical epic feature set in 1519 that is planned for wide theatrical distribution in 2027, according to Variety India. The project is written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and produced as a Marco Weber Production for Utopai.

Launch coverage in August 2025 reportedly described Cortés as two 100-minute films directed by Kirk Petruccelli, while Variety India (August 2026) names Paul Mignot as director of a single feature. The format is unresolved. The launch headline also named a sci-fi series "Project Space"; later sources say "Space Nation," and no source confirms they are the same project.

Episodic production centers on Space Nation, an eight-episode science-fiction action series slated for 2027, with episodes running between 45 and 60 minutes. Marco Weber and Martin Weisz co-created the series; Weisz directs all eight episodes and co-wrote it with Vanessa Coifman. The series is co-produced alongside Globoplay and Ex Machina Studios, with K5 International managing worldwide distribution rights. Additional slate projects reported by Variety India include Half Moon, a German-Korean live-action feature written and directed by Hyo-joo Yang. The Most Serious Fart is an animated feature directed by Mike Bender. Also on the slate is Journey to the West: The Lost Five Hundred Years, an AI-generated animated series with partner Huace; Utopai controls rights outside China. For broader market analysis on cinematic budgets, see our breakdown of AI-generated film production costs.

Revenue Claims and Valuation

The revenue figures below are Forbes estimates or Utopai's own claims. Forbes reported that Cybever generated $750,000 in revenue in 2024, followed by an estimated $7.5 million in revenue during the first half of 2025. Forbes estimated full-year 2025 revenue at under $50 million.

Contrasting figures appear in the studio's promotional announcements. Utopai's official rebrand announcement on August 26, 2025, ran under the headline "Cybever Rebrands As Utopai Studios With $110 Million In Revenue And A Hollywood Slate," as recorded on the Utopai news blog. Forbes reported that Space Nation and Cortés could together fetch an estimated $110 million, contingent on delivery.

Carmelo Anthony invested an undisclosed sum, estimated by Forbes at approximately $5 million, through Creative 7 Productions; Forbes described the investment as valuing Utopai at about $1 billion. Official press materials from MIPCOM Cannes similarly describe the company as valued at more than $1 billion. Early backers named by Forbes include Tom Ryan, former president of Paramount+, and Hollywood director Roland Emmerich.

The PAI Software Platform and Pricing Structure

Production Assistive Intelligence (PAI) is the commercial software platform developed by Utopai Studios to power creative media pipelines. Accessible at pai.utopaistudios.com, the product debuted in spring 2026 before receiving a major architectural upgrade with PAI 2.0 on June 2, 2026, reported by Advanced Television. PAI 2.0 is an agent-first workspace featuring a conversational creative agent, a visual Canvas interface, voice input capabilities, and multi-modal generative models.

Workflow mechanics in PAI 2.0 divide between Easy Mode and Pro Mode. Easy Mode provides a guided five-step progression moving from story generation to visual references, storyboard construction, video generation clips, and a linear timeline. Pro Mode is the freeform Canvas. PAI runs script breakdowns to identify characters, scenes, props, and shot lists, and exports completed project files directly to Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. Advanced capabilities include 4K video rendering, multi-shot sequencing, a prompt ledger recording generation metadata, and developer access through PAI Code on GitHub. Utopai says PAI reached $11 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Forbes reported that figure came within 60 days of release. The figure is unaudited.

As of October 2026, four paid plans plus Enterprise are listed on the PAI product pricing page. No free tier or free credits are listed on the pricing page. Generation costs depend on the model and resolution: standard video costs between 9 and 50 credits per second across 480p to 1080p resolutions, while the agentic Utopai X model consumes 93 credits per second at 1080p. More on PAI is in our explainer on Utopai PAI, while creative workflows are covered in our guide to the AI film production pipeline.

• Basic plan: $15 monthly (or $13.50 monthly billed annually) providing 1,000 credits
• Plus plan: $49 monthly (or $45 monthly billed annually) providing 3,500 credits, voice input, and 4K export
• Pro plan: $129 monthly (or $119 monthly billed annually) providing 10,000 credits and priority generation queues
• Ultra plan: $379 monthly (or $349 monthly billed annually) providing 35,000 credits
• Enterprise plan: pricing not published (contact sales)
• Credit top-ups: $15 for 1,000 credits, $45 for 3,000 credits, and $150 for 10,000 credits

Comparison Across AI-Native Film Studios

Utopai Studios competes in an emerging category of entertainment ventures combining proprietary machine learning models with original IP production.

Asteria, co-founded by Bryn Mooser and Natasha Lyonne, was bought by Toronto-based Moonvalley AI, whose Marey model is trained only on content Moonvalley paid for. Asteria's announced feature is Uncanny Valley. Meanwhile, Promise, backed by Peter Chernin's North Road and Andreessen Horowitz, develops original series alongside its proprietary Muse workflow tool. Staircase Studios was founded by producer Pouya Shahbazian, per TheWrap. It aims for 30 films over four years at $500,000 or less each, using its ForwardMotion workflow. In the enterprise sector, Netflix announced on March 5, 2026 that it was acquiring Ben Affleck's InterPositive, while Luma partnered with Wonder Project to launch Innovative Dreams, detailed by TechCrunch. For alternative generation tools, see our ranking of the best AI video generators.

Industry Panel at MIPCOM Cannes 2026

MIPCOM Cannes runs from October 12 to October 15, 2026. The market organization named Utopai Studios a Headline Partner for the inaugural MIP AI Entertainment Forum on June 2, 2026, alongside fellow headline partner Versos AI.

On Monday, October 12, 2026, Cecilia Shen presented "The Big AI Keynote with Utopai Studios" in the Grand Auditorium. The official programme lists Shen and Ken Oh ("Content CEO, CJ ENM Studios") in the official MIPCOM conference programme, while IDmedia also listed Cynthia Littleton of Variety as a speaker. IDmedia reported that Shen and Oh discussed generative-AI adoption by established players, early long-form uses, and scaling from experiments to production.

IDmedia, reporting in French, quoted Shen as saying that AI can generate a shot, but it takes a studio to build a universe audiences want to return to. There is no public report of a deal, investment, co-production or partnership between Utopai and CJ ENM. Ken Oh was a fellow speaker. The only other link on record is Utopai APAC President Hyun Park, who was previously Head of the Global Division at CJ ENM's Studio Dragon.

Practical Realities for Commercial Video Production

At Layer3Labs, we build and run automated workflows inside operating businesses. Before buying a PAI plan, price a test scene in credits: at 93 credits a second, Utopai X at 1080p uses a Basic plan's 1,000 credits in about 10 seconds of video.

On January 29, 2025, the US Copyright Office published Part 2 of its artificial intelligence report, which says prompts alone do not make an AI output copyrightable. The report says protection needs sufficient human-determined expressive elements, and that human creative selection, arrangement or modification can be protected.

Watch whether Cortés and Space Nation ship in 2027 as announced, and whether anyone independently confirms the unaudited $11 million PAI ARR claim.