Disney+ plans to add user-generated, short-form AI content

AI video (most, if not all, of it slop) has already been proliferating on the Internet, from Elon Musk’s Grok to OpenAI’s Sora and beyond. Currently, these AI videos exist beyond any studio’s ability to control or profit from them, which is why Disney teamed up with Universal to sue Midjourney, calling it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” Whatever way Disney moves forward with AI will have to “reflect our need to protect the IP,” as Iger put it (via The Hollywood Reporter). He said Disney has already had “productive conversations” with AI companies. While he didn’t name names, Fable—an AI company trying to tout its product as “the Netflix of AI”—has claimed to have spoken with Disney. Its business model specifically includes training AI on a company’s creative guidelines, so that a character like Mickey Mouse wouldn’t end up doing something untoward.

Disney and Fable’s idea for the future of entertainment seems to be somewhere between fanfiction, video games, and TikTok. All those things are popular on their own, but it remains unclear how much people will want to “prompt” their own storylines rather than just watch TV that’s already been made for them. Anything that keeps you on the Disney+ app is a win for Disney, so the company will happily invest in AI if it helps accomplish that goal. In the meantime, it’ll continue sending out cease and desist letters to companies like Character.ai for using Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and more characters without license (per Deadline). In the letter sent to Character.ai in September, Disney condemned the program that “adds a sadistic and perverted twist to Disney’s characters by using AI models that engage young people in inappropriate conversations about sex, self-harm, and deceit, and encouraging anti-social and dangerous behavior.” Hopefully the tech is better and safer by the time it’s integrated into Disney+!