It's "A Whole New World."
The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that it had reached a three-year agreement with OpenAI to bring its popular characters to the company's Sora artificial intelligence video generator.
Disney will also make a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT. It said it will become a “major customer” of OpenAI, using its services to develop new products and experiences, including for its Disney+ streaming service.
“Under the agreement, Disney and OpenAI are affirming a shared commitment to the responsible use of AI that protects user safety and the rights of creators,” the companies said in a statement.
They did not disclose the terms of the deal, and both Disney CEO Bob Iger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declined to reveal any details Thursday morning during a joint interview on CNBC.
OpenAI, meanwhile, said it has committed to “implementing responsible measures to further address trust and safety, including age-appropriate policies,” but did not provide additional details about what that would entail.
The issue of how AI chatbots engage with users under 18 is the subject of a national conversation and several lawsuits.
Disney said characters that are part of the deal include: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Lilo, Stitch, Ariel, Belle, Beast, Cinderella, Baymax, Simba and Mufasa, as well as characters from the worlds of “Encanto,” “Frozen,” “Inside Out,” “Moana,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Toy Story,” “Up” and “Zootopia.”
On CNBC, Iger described the deal broadly as "kind of a way" for Disney to get into AI.
The deal is notable in part because Disney is famously protective of its sprawling portfolio of intellectual property, from the animated shorts of the 1920s to modern superhero and fantasy franchises.
Altman said, "We hear so much from users about how much they love Disney," adding that he expects Sora users to respond "very well" to the inclusion of Disney characters.
The companies do not yet have a launch date yet, however, Altman said. "We'll try to get it in there as soon as we can."
The company's statement had mentioned "early 2026" as a potential launch date.
Iger said in a statement, “Bringing together Disney’s iconic stories and characters with OpenAI’s groundbreaking technology puts imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in ways we’ve never seen before, giving them richer and more personal ways to connect with the Disney characters and stories they love."
Disney shares closed 2.4% higher Thursday.
Media companies are wrestling with how to secure the value of their intellectual property while not being left behind by what many see as a transformative technology with few legal guardrails yet.
With OpenAI, Disney would be creating a legitimate avenue through which a generative AI program could deploy its characters, rather than playing whack-a-mole with every AI company, as Disney has done with other kinds of media in the past.
The studio has taken aggressive legal action for years to block the unauthorized use of its recognizable characters, logos and musical scores. Disney has also lobbied Congress for U.S. copyright extensions, including a 1998 federal law that some critics labeled the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act.”
As Disney seeks to open the path to copyrighted usage of its characters by OpenAI, it simultaneously appears to be trying to close the avenue for a top competitor: Google.
Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter Wednesday, alleging that Google's AI services are "infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale."
"Disney has been raising its concerns with Google for months, but Google has done nothing in response," Disney's lawyer wrote. "Google’s mass infringement of Disney’s copyrighted works must stop."
Disney said it is seeking a "swift response" from Google.
On Disney's Nov. 13 earnings call, Iger hinted that the company was working on a deal with an AI company but didn't name any specific firms.
"We've been in some interesting conversations with some of the AI companies," Iger said. "I would characterize some of them as quite productive conversations."
Iger said that in those talks Disney was "seeking to not only protect the value of our IP and of our creative engines, but also to seek opportunities for us to use their technology to create more engagement with consumers."
The agreement triggered a fresh wave of concern in Hollywood, where producers and writers are already on edge about the capabilities of generative AI.
The Writers Guild of America, the labor union that represents Hollywood screenwriters, criticized the deal, saying in part that it "appears to sanction" the technology platform's "theft of our work and cedes the value of what we create to a tech company that has built its business of our backs."
The guild said it plans to meet with Disney representatives to "probe the terms of this deal, including the extent to which user-generated videos use the work of WGA members."
The guild's labor contract with Hollywood's major studios expires in May. The last round of negotiations in 2023 was contentious partly because of concern inside the film and television business about the rise of generative AI.
In a separate statement, Hollywood's leading union for actors said it would keep a close eye on how the deal is put into practice.
"SAG-AFTRA will closely monitor the deal and its implementation to ensure compliance with our contracts and with applicable laws protecting image, voice, and likeness," the screen actors union said in part.
The Animation Guild’s Executive Board also weighed in Thursday, saying in a statement that "the announcement brings up serious questions regarding the impact on Guild members and consumers worldwide."
"Disney is a cherished brand, in part, because of how fiercely it has protected its legacy," the statement read. "However, the unpredictability of generative AI is concerning and undermines both integrity and legacy, even with the most robust guardrails. Moreover, what of the likenesses of users or their children that are uploaded to Disney or Sora? Will these likenesses be protected, especially in the current era where studios and all of their content may be sold to the highest bidder? Will the studio pay users who create hit content or offer any compensation to the artists, writers, and technicians who helped create Disney’s beloved characters?"
The guild, which was founded in 1952, said animation workers, many who worked on iconic Disney characters, "deserve to know how their contributions to Disney's global success will be used."
"Despite their indispensable role behind beloved properties that generate billions of dollars for the company, Guild members have never received compensation for the licensing of these characters, nor will they benefit from the user-generated content made from AI powered by their creativity and labor," the executive board's statement read.
