OpenAI users will soon be able to create short-form videos incorporating The Walt Disney Co.’s popular characters, thanks to a new partnership between the two companies reached last month.
The Burbank-based media and entertainment giant entered into a landmark three-year licensing agreement with San Francisco-based generative artificial intelligence phenomenon OpenAI, the companies announced. The agreement will offer users of Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video generative AI platform, access to characters across Disney’s valuable media intellectual property including Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars for their short videos, which will be streamed on Disney+.
Based on the terms of the deal, Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI. Disney will also adopt a slew of OpenAI’s application programming interfaces to build new products, and Disney employees will have access to ChatGPT.
“Technological innovation has continually shaped the evolution of entertainment, bringing with it new ways to create and share great stories with the world,” Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said in a statement. “The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry.
Generative AI use
The announcement marks an important milestone for generative AI’s foray into Hollywood’s creative sphere.
The Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA has battled over the usage of AI and the commodification of actors. In 2023, SAG-AFTRA reached a historical three-year deal with the studios for the theatrical and television actors, valued at more than $1 billion in new compensation. It also established several crucial AI protections including the requiring consent and compensation for digital replicas.
In July of last year, the union reached a similar three-year agreement for performers in video games, ending an 11-month strike against the major video game companies.
Production companies like Warner Bros., Discovery and Disney itself have also sued generative AI platforms for using their work to create new images.
Though hostile sentiments around AI haven’t died, entertainment giants are cozying up to Sora and platforms like it. In October, Netflix Inc. said in a letter to investors that it was exploring use cases for generative AI. However, the company has already implemented the technology to generate footage for a handful of the shows and movies it produced.
“We’re empowering creators with a broad set of GenAI tools to help them achieve their visions and deliver even more impactful titles for members,” the company said. “For example, in Happy Gilmore 2, filmmakers used GenAI coupled with (machine learning) and Eyeline’s proprietary volumetric capture technologies to de-age characters during the opening flashback scene.”
