BURBANK, California: Disney is making a significant push into generative artificial intelligence, backing OpenAI with a US$1 billion investment while simultaneously taking a harder line against tech companies it says are misusing its copyrighted characters.
Under a three-year licensing agreement, Disney will allow OpenAI to use more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, including Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and Luke Skywalker, in its Sora AI video generation tool. The deal makes the Walt Disney Co. the first major content licensing partner for Sora.
The agreement will allow fans to use Sora to generate and share short videos featuring Disney-owned characters. Some user-generated Sora videos will also be made available on Disney's streaming service, Disney+.
At the same time, Disney escalated its legal pressure on rival tech firms, sending Google a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it stop using Disney content without permission to train its artificial intelligence models. The letter targets Google's Veo video generator and its Imagen and Nano Banana image generators.
Sora and other AI video tools have attracted attention for their ability to quickly create realistic videos from simple text prompts. But their rapid spread has raised concerns about misinformation, deepfakes, copyright violations, and what critics describe as low-quality "AI slop" overwhelming human-created content online.
Disney and OpenAI said they are committed to the responsible use of AI that protects users and 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," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said the partnership will "extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works."
As part of the broader relationship, Disney will become a "major customer" of OpenAI, using its technology to build new products, tools, and services, and rolling out ChatGPT for its employees.
Children's advocacy groups criticized 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." He added that OpenAI claims children are prohibited from using Sora, yet the company is "luring young kids to their platform using some of their favorite characters." Disney, he said, is "aiding and abetting OpenAI's efforts to addict young children to its unsafe platform and products."
Disney's legal action against Google follows similar cease-and-desist letters previously sent to Meta and Character.AI, as well as litigation filed alongside NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery against AI image generator Midjourney and AI company Minimax.
"Well, we have been aggressive at protecting our IP, and we have gone after other companies that have not honored our IP, not respected our IP, not valued it. And this is another example of us doing just that," Iger said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "We have been in conversation with Google, basically expressing our concerns about this. And, ultimately, because we didn't really make any progress, the conversations didn't bear fruit, we felt we had no choice but to send them a cease-and-desist."
In the letter dated December 10 and seen by The Associated Press, Disney accused Google of "infringing Disney's copyrights on a massive scale," citing examples including characters from Star Wars, The Simpsons, Deadpool, and The Lion King. Disney also said Google has been "intentionally amplifying" the issue by making infringing content widely available across platforms such as YouTube.
"Google's mass infringement of Disney's copyrighted works must stop," the letter said.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
