Utopai Studios (formerly Cybever) is an American film and television studio that uses artificial intelligence in production. The company was founded in 2022 as an AI company focused on 3D world creation and video generation, and was repositioned in 2025 as a film and television studio built around AI-enabled production. It develops PAI, a proprietary AI system for long-form productions.
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History
Cybever was founded in 2022 by Cecilia Shen and Jie Yang. Shen Was Chief Executive Officer and Yang Chief Technology Officer during the Cybever period, and both retained those roles following the company’s 2025 rebrand as Utopai Studios.
Cybever operated as an AI technology company focused on generating and editing 3D virtual environments and video.
On September 30, 2026, Utopai Studios released an updated version of PAI (Production Intelligence), a unified system combining video generation, production context, and filmmaker-led workflows designed to maintain visual continuity and environmental coherence across complex shots. The platform integrated Utopai X, a proprietary video-generation model tailored for professional film and television production. On September 2, 2026, Utopai Studios and DeNA's Entertainment Development Business Unit announced a collaboration in Japan to explore AI-assisted animation-production workflows using Utopai's PAI system.
On August 26, 2025, Cybever announced it had rebranded as Utopai Studios; Forbes reported that the company had booked roughly $110 million in revenue across global territories for its announced projects, Cortés and Space Nation. In November 2025, Utopai Studios announced Utopai East, which focuses on expanding access to Korean and Japanese intellectual property for international audiences.
In May 2026, Utopai Studios secured a strategic investment from professional basketball player Carmelo Anthony's production company, Creative 7. While the exact financial terms were not officially disclosed, the investment was estimated to be approximately $5 million, which valued Utopai Studios at $1 billion.
In February 2026, the company's joint venture, Utopai East, acquired 100% of Alquimista Media, a Seoul-based production house led by former Warner Bros. Korea and Studio Dragon executive Hyun Park. The deal included an active development pipeline of 15 scripted television series and feature films.
Projects
Cortés, a historical epic in development as a two-part feature, written by screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and directed by production designer/director Kirk Petruccelli.
Space Nation, a science-fiction series in development.
Journey to the West – A fully AI-generated series co-produced with Chinese entertainment company Huace Film & TV, utilizing Utopai's PAI 2.0 platform.
Half Moon – A German–Korean live-action feature written and directed by Hyo-joo Yang, marking her feature directorial debut. It is co-produced by Utopai Studios, In Good Company and Paper Barn Studios. PAI is used for selected visual elements. By September 2026, principal photography had begun in Germany.
The Most Serious Fart – An animated feature film adaptation of Mike Bender's children's book, currently in development. Written and directed by Bender, with Russell Hollander producing.
Technology and Products
PAI
On March 5, 2026, Utopai Studios publicly released PAI, a generative artificial intelligence video model and workflow designed for cinematic, long-form storytelling. In contrast to single-shot generative tools, the platform tracks narrative continuity, character consistency, and environmental stability across multi-shot sequences. On April 15, 2026, the company updated the system to support a "Story Agent" capable of rendering continuous three-minute video sequences at 4K resolution.
Within the first sixty days of its release, the technology generated $11 million in annual recurring revenue through commercial licensing to global production companies.
In July 2026, the company launched PAI 2.0, introducing a "Pro Mode" featuring a native editing canvas workspace, voice input controls, and 4K rendering.