Paramount’s AI Bet: What a Former Google Exec Signals About the Future of Streaming

Let’s cut to the chase: David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance just made a hire that tells you everything about where they think the puck is going. The company is bringing on Barak Turovsky — a seven-year veteran of Google’s AI language product team — as its new head of consumer AI. If you’re building a growth team in SaaS or tech, this move is worth unpacking. Not because it’s flashy, but because it’s a textbook signal of how legacy media companies are trying to catch the streaming wave with artificial intelligence as their surfboard.

I’ll walk you through the details, what it means for Paramount’s tech stack, and — more importantly — how you can apply similar thinking to your own GTM strategy. Because in the end, AI isn’t just about algorithms. It’s about customer experience, retention, and revenue.

The Hire That Breaks the Mold

Here’s what happened: On Monday afternoon, Paramount’s product chief Dane Glasgow sent an internal memo to tech staffers announcing that Barak Turovsky is joining the company. Turovsky isn’t just any random exec. He spent seven years at Google leading their AI language product. That’s the team behind some of the most consumer-facing AI tools in existence. Before that, he held roles at General Motors, Cisco, PayPal, SAP, and IBM.

The memo — obtained by Business Insider — is remarkably candid. Glasgow says Turovsky will help “supercharge” the company’s transformation. The word “supercharge” is revealing. It implies that AI isn’t just an experiment for Paramount. It’s a lever they intend to pull hard.

Your takeaway: When you’re trying to pivot a legacy business toward a modern growth model, you don’t hire a tinkerer. You hire someone who has already scaled AI products at the world’s largest tech companies. If you’re planning a similar shift — whether it’s a product update, a pricing overhaul, or a new customer acquisition channel — look for leaders who have already run the playbook at a higher order of magnitude.

Why AI Now? The Streaming Arms Race

Paramount is not a small player. Its streaming portfolio includes Paramount+ (their flagship subscription service) and Pluto TV (a fast-growing free ad-supported platform). But in the streaming wars, you’re competing against Netflix (which has been investing in AI for years), Disney+, and a host of tech-native companies.

Glasgow’s memo spells out exactly where Turovsky and his AI/ML team will focus:

Personalization: Making sure the right content surfaces for the right user.
Content discovery: Helping users find shows and movies they didn’t even know they wanted.
Platform intelligence: Analyzing how users interact with the service to optimize everything.
Consumer engagement: Keeping people watching longer and coming back more often.
Monetization capabilities: Turning all that attention into revenue through ads, subscriptions, and transactions.

Sound familiar? It should. These are the same five pillars that drive growth for any B2B SaaS company. Whether you’re selling project management software or HR tools, you care about personalization, discovery, intelligence, engagement, and monetization.

The Playbook for Your Team

Take this list and apply it to your own product or service. Ask yourself:

How are we using data to personalize the customer experience?
What does our content discovery look like — are we helping users find features they don’t know exist?
Do we have platform intelligence that tells us where users drop off?
What levers do we pull to increase engagement?
Are we maximizing every possible revenue stream?

If your answer to any of these is “we’re not doing much,” you’ve just found your next experiment.

What Paramount Has Already Shipped

This isn’t theoretical. The company is already pushing out AI-powered features. Paramount+ recently launched a short-form video feed — essentially a TikTok-like experience within the streaming app. They’re also building interactive features, including a shopping tool (think: buy the jacket the character is wearing) and a sports stats overlay (imagine real-time stats while you watch a game).

And in a move that should catch the eye of any content-driven business, they’re looking to put video podcasts on Paramount+. Think about that: a traditional media company betting that long-form, unscripted audio content can drive streaming engagement.

Your takeaway: AI isn’t about replacing human creativity. It’s about augmenting it. For Paramount, AI helps them identify what content works, predict what will keep users hooked, and surface the right features at the right time. For your business, that might mean using AI to personalize your email sequences, recommend complementary products, or optimize your pricing experiments.

The Talent Strategy Behind the Tech

Here’s where it gets really interesting from a GTM perspective. Paramount is signaling that they’re in a war for AI talent — and they’re willing to pay premium prices.

Glasgow’s memo emphasizes that the company’s goal is to “attract some of the best talent available.” That’s not just lip service. Look at their recent moves:

Hugh Williams, another former Google exec, joined as an EVP and “Executive in Residence.”
Dane Glasgow himself joined from Meta last fall.
Revenue chief Jay Askinasi came on board from Roku.
They’re actively hiring lead software engineers who have experience building AI agents.

Think about that pattern: They’re pulling leaders from the very companies that define modern consumer technology. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s a deliberate strategy to import playbooks from Google, Meta, and Roku — companies that have already solved the hard problems Paramount faces.

How to Apply This to Your Hiring

You don’t need to hire a dozen former Google execs to make an impact. But you should ask yourself:

Who are the top 10 companies in my industry that have already figured out what I’m struggling with?
Can I hire someone from that ecosystem?
If I can’t afford a full-time hire, can I bring in a consultant or fractional executive who has that experience?

Remember: The best talent doesn’t just bring skills. They bring context. They know what good looks like because they’ve seen it work at scale.

The Inside View: Engineers Already Using AI

Here’s a detail from Business Insider’s reporting that I love: Paramount software engineers have told reporters they’re increasingly using AI — and one engineer said they’d used eight to 10 AI agents at a time to knock out tasks. That’s not a pilot program. That’s a shift in how work gets done.

The same engineer noted that “Paramount is getting better” at implementing tech, even if it’s still catching up to companies like Netflix and Google.

This is a critical insight for any leader: Your team is already experimenting with AI. The question is whether you’re giving them the tools and infrastructure to do it safely, at scale, and in a way that drives business outcomes.

The Risk of Not Moving

If your engineers are already using eight AI agents, but you don’t have a formal AI strategy, you’re leaving money on the table. More importantly, you’re creating security and compliance risks. People will find ways to use AI whether you approve it or not. Your job is to channel that energy productively.

What This Means for Paramount’s Future

Let’s zoom out for a second. Paramount is in the middle of a massive transformation. The company was acquired by David Ellison’s Skydance, which means they have new ownership, new leadership, and a mandate to compete with tech giants. AI is the thread that ties all of their ambitions together.

Think about the math:

Streaming margins are thin.
Content costs are exploding.
Competition is brutal.
Subscriber growth is slowing.

AI gives them a lever to:

Reduce customer acquisition costs
Increase lifetime value
Improve ad targeting
Build new revenue streams (shopping, stats, podcasts)

That’s exactly why they hired Turovsky. He’s not a content executive. He’s a consumer AI expert. That tells you that Paramount sees its future not just as a media company, but as a tech company that happens to make content.

The B2B Lesson: Apply the Same Frame

Here’s what I want you to take away from this: Every growth team in SaaS and tech is facing the same competitive pressures. Your product is being commoditized. Customers have more choices than ever. Attention spans are shrinking.

You have two options:

Play defense on margins and hope your competitors struggle.
Play offense by investing in AI-powered personalization, discovery, engagement, and monetization.

Paramount is going all-in on offense. If you’re not thinking the same way, you’re falling behind.

Three Actions You Can Take This Week

Audit your AI maturity. Where are you using AI today? Is it just a few experiments, or is it embedded in your core product and GTM motion? Be honest.
Build a talent pipeline. Who are the AI leaders you want to attract? Start networking now. The best talent gets hired before they’re looking.
Run an engagement experiment. Pick one area from Glasgow’s list — personalization, discovery, intelligence, engagement, or monetization — and run a one-week sprint. Use AI to improve it. Then measure the impact.

The Bottom Line

Paramount just bet its future on AI. Not by accident, but by design. They hired a leader who has done this before, gave him a clear mandate, and aligned their entire team around a common vision. That’s a playbook worth stealing.

Whether you’re selling streaming subscriptions or B2B software, the principles are the same: Personalize smarter, discover faster, engage deeper, and monetize better. AI is the engine that makes it possible.

Now, ask yourself: What’s your Paramount moment going to look like?

This article is based on a report from Business Insider, which obtained Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow’s internal memo announcing the hire of Barak Turovsky as head of consumer AI. All facts, names, and dates are preserved from that source.

See also:

Paramount hires a former Google exec as its head of consumer AI. Read the memo about its tech ambitions.