India, May 22 : Utopai Studios today announced that Basketball Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Carmelo Anthony, through his production company Creative 7, has become a strategic partner in the company and will work with Utopai Studios to expand its work with professional athletes, with a focus on developing original sports and entertainment intellectual property using PAI, Utopai Studios’ proprietary cinematic storytelling AI.
Through the initiative, Anthony, alongside business partner and co-founder of Creative 7, Asani Swann, will work with Utopai Studios to help bring professional athletes and sports-related opportunities into original projects across film, television, streaming and digital platforms. The effort reflects a broader expansion of Utopai Studios’ work with talent across sports and entertainment and combines the company’s expertise in cinematic AI, production and intellectual property development with the creative vision of athletes and other creators.
“We’re excited to partner with Utopai Studios. What stood out to me wasn’t just how advanced the technology is, but the vision and intention behind it,” said Carmelo Anthony. “Sports has always been grounded in real human stories that can translate to powerful entertainment IP, but bringing those stories to life hasn’t always been easy. PAI changes that. It gives us a more accessible way to create and build something with long-term value.”
“With this partnership, we see a clear opportunity to develop sports-driven ideas rooted in authentic storytelling into original entertainment properties at scale,” said Asani Swann. “With Utopai Studios, we’re combining technology, production expertise, and creative infrastructure to move those ideas seamlessly into film, television, streaming, and digital platforms – faster and with greater creative control.”
“Carmelo and Asani immediately understood that this is bigger than using AI to make content faster,” said Cecilia Shen, Co-Founder and CEO of Utopai Studios. “We are building a new studio system for the AI era, one that gives creators, athletes and talent a more direct path to develop original IP while preserving authorship, ownership and creative control. With Creative 7 and PAI, we can help turn powerful athlete-driven stories into entertainment properties built for film, television, streaming, animation and digital audiences.”
The announcement follows Utopai Studios’ recent work with professional athletes, including its project with James Harden on an AI-animated short created with PAI, and reflects the company’s continued expansion into sports-driven entertainment IP.
One of the first projects under the initiative will be an anime-inspired entertainment property developed around Anthony’s world, drawing on defining moments from his career, his point of view and the broader culture surrounding the game. The initial rollout is expected to include a recurring short-form series and behind-the-scenes content tied to Anthony’s creative involvement, serving as an early example of how Utopai Studios plans to work with athletes on original sports and entertainment IP.
Utopai Studios is building a new kind of global entertainment company designed for the AI era. The company combines proprietary AI infrastructure with real integration into Hollywood and global entertainment ecosystems, creating the next evolution of the studio system. Utopai Studios is founded on the same principles that have always defined successful entertainment businesses: compelling stories, valuable intellectual property, world-class talent, financing, production, distribution and audience demand. The difference is that Utopai embeds AI directly into the operating core of studio production, transforming it from an external tool into foundational infrastructure that increases speed, efficiency, scalability and creative opportunity.
At the center of this model is PAI, Utopai Studios’ proprietary cinematic narrative AI system and the core engine of its AI-native production ecosystem. Purpose-built for professional entertainment workflows, PAI supports the full lifecycle of content creation, including development, visualization, scene planning, continuity management, editing, localization and delivery. Rather than operating outside the creative process, PAI is integrated within it, allowing creators, studios and media partners to work within a system that mirrors traditional Hollywood production while expanding what can be made, how quickly it can be produced and how efficiently it can scale worldwide.