Disney invests £1 billion in OpenAI

Los Angeles, Dec. 13: Disney is investing £1 billion in OpenAI and will bring characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Luke Skywalker to the AI company’s Sora video-generation tool, under a licensing agreement the two firms announced on Thursday. At the same time, Disney challenged Google, demanding that the tech giant stop exploiting its copyrighted characters to train its AI systems.

The OpenAI partnership makes the Walt Disney Company the first major content-licensing collaborator for Sora, which uses generative artificial intelligence to create short videos.

Under the three-year licensing deal, fans will be able to use Sora to generate and share videos based on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.

AI video generators like Sora have impressed with their ability to rapidly produce realistic clips from simple text prompts. However, the surge of such videos on social media—including clips depicting celebrities and deceased public figures—has raised concerns about “AI slop” overwhelming human-created work, as well as fears around misinformation, deepfakes and copyright issues.

Disney and OpenAI said they are committed to the responsible use of AI that protects user safety and the rights of creators.

“This agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help works reach vast new audiences,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Disney CEO Robert Iger said the deal will “extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works.”As part of the agreement, some user-generated Sora videos will be made available on the Disney+ streaming service.

Disney will also become a “major customer” of OpenAI and will use its technology to build new products, tools and services. It will additionally roll out ChatGPT for employees.

Children’s advocates criticised the move. Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, said Disney’s decision to partner with OpenAI “is a betrayal of countless children around the world who adore Mickey Mouse, Frozen, and Toy Story. OpenAI claims children are prohibited from using Sora, yet here they are luring young kids to their platform using some of their favourite characters.” Disney, he added, is “aiding and abetting OpenAI’s efforts to addict young children to its unsafe platform and products.”

Also on Thursday, Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter, demanding that the company stop using Disney content without permission to train its AI models, including its Veo video generator and Imagen and Nano Banana image generators.

It has previously issued similar cease-and-desist letters to Meta and Character.AI, and has filed legal action with NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery against AI image generator Midjourney and AI company Minimax. (AP)