In a deal that could have a profound effect on the animation industry and on Hollywood at large, the Walt Disney Company will allow users of Sora, OpenAI’s video platform, to create artificial intelligence content with its licensed characters — including Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, Frozen’s Elsa and more.
Under an agreement announced Thursday, Sora users will be able to create AI-generated content using characters from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar. Some of the content that Sora users create will be selected for streaming on Disney+, the companies said.
Underscoring Hollywood’s embrace of AI, Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI under the deal, which does not include any human talent likenesses or voices.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said the deal would give fans “richer and more personal ways to connect with the Disney characters and stories they love.”
As part of the deal, Disney — which owns ABC News — will work with OpenAI, which owns Sora, to build products and tools for the parent company and its streaming service, Disney+, and have its employees use ChatGPT.
The agreement is not insignificant for Disney, a company known for being overprotective of its intellectual property. But Disney has struggled to rein in the use of AI-generated content of its copyrighted material. In June, the entertainment behemoth and Universal jointly sued Midjourney, an AI image generator, for copyright infringement.
The new deal with OpenAI will enable Disney to have some control over what may be the inevitable use of AI involving its intellectual property.
Using generative AI to create art has been controversial from the start. Sora, in particular, has been flagged for allowing users to generate harmful AI content, including violent and racist images, as well as lewd depictions of copyrighted characters.
In October, a report from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that advocates for children’s digital well-being, found that Sora posed what it called an “unacceptable risk” to children, including creating privacy and bullying concerns and exposing them to dangerous topics such as suicidal ideation and eating disorders.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.