The following contains references to sexual abuse and suicidal thoughts.
Months after filing the lawsuit against Midjourney, Disney announced a three-year agreement with Sam Altman’s company OpenAI, giving users of video generator Sora access to more than 200 Disney characters starting in early 2026. You can read the full press release here, but for now, here are the highlights, courtesy of Disney.
As part of this three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to leverage over 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters to generate short, user-driven social videos that fans can watch and share. The agreement will allow these fan-inspired Sora short videos to be streamed on Disney+. Disney and OpenAI affirm our shared commitment to the responsible use of AI that protects user safety and creator rights. In addition to the licensing agreement, Disney will be a major customer of OpenAI and will use its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences such as Disney+ and deploy ChatGPT for its employees. As part of the deal, Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and receive warrants to purchase additional stock.
The announcement added that “this agreement does not include the likeness or voice of the talent,” which are protected by the SAG-AFTRA agreement signed in 2023.
“Disney will be a major customer of OpenAI, leveraging its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploy ChatGPT to its employees,” the statement said, suggesting the move will likely impact bottom-line workers who typically lack contractual protections against AI.
The deal comes at a particularly ironic time, as Disney’s biggest release of the year, James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, was scheduled to carry a disclaimer boasting that none of the films were made using generative AI. C.B. Cebulski, editor-in-chief of Disney’s Marvel Comics, also announced at this year’s New York Comic Con that “we do not use (technology) and we do not condone it.”
The news comes shortly after Altman appeared on The Jimmy Kimmel Show this week and claimed he can’t imagine raising his children without ChatGPT, which generates text and images.
The AI industry is currently the most capitalized sector in America, but it is also embroiled in litigation. Not only are various AI aggregators being sued for massive copyright infringement, but chat and support apps have also come under fire. OpenAI also faces a number of lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT played a role in encouraging several people to commit suicide. Mr. Altman himself is being sued by his sister, Ann Altman. Ann Altman claims that the CEO sexually abused her between 1997 and 2006, when she was a child and a teenager.
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