The Walt Disney Company and tech bro Sam Altman’s OpenAI have signed a massive deal that will allow users to create AI slop videos centered around their favorite Disney characters starting early next year.
News of the $1 billion deal (h/t Variety) comes just days after Altman was on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, claiming that AI could help people raise their kids. According to the rather fluffy Variety report, the deal makes Disney the “first major licensing partner on Sora,” which is OpenAI’s generative AI video platform. Users will be able to make videos featuring more than 200 characters across Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, and a variety of “costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments” that they can then share on social media.
Importantly, the deal does not include “talent likenesses or voices,” so you won’t be seeing a mostly accurate Harrison Ford building a snowman with Frozen’s Elsa, or whatever weird digital amalgamation Disney adults decide to type into the slop machine.
Characters people can use in their quest to rob the planet of water include:
- Ariel from The Little Mermaid
- Belle from Beauty and the Beast
- Cinderella
- Mickey Mouse
- Minnie Mouse
- Baymax from Big Hero 6
- Simba and Mufasa from The Lion King
- Black Panther
- Captain America
- Deadpool
- Groot
- Iron Man
- Thor
- Thanos
Importantly, the deal allows for “iconic animated or illustrated versions of Marvel and Lucasfilm characters,” so a cartoon version of Harrison Ford building a snowman with Elsa appears to be in the cards.
It’s unclear what kinds of guardrails Disney (notoriously protective over how its characters are used in media) will put on Sora, which had to readjust back in October after users created videos of Altman grilling and eating Pikachu. Considering that the depravity and stupidity of AI knows no bounds, I expect Disney will be regretting this deal sooner rather than later.
The corporate conjunction also means Disney will be folding OpenAI into its daily operations, including “deploying ChatGPT for its employees.” It’s unclear if that means AI-generated content will be in the next Moana film. Disney is investing $1 billion into Altman’s AI company, so it clearly wants to get its money’s worth.
Disney CEO Bob Iger rang the “AI is good” bell in an official statement, saying, “Technological innovation has continually shaped the evolution of entertainment, bringing with it new ways to create and share great stories with the world. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works.”
Today, Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter, accusing the company of using AI to engage in copyright infringement on a “massive scale.” LOL. LMAO, even.
