Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI in deal that brings its characters to AI video platform Sora

Disney has become the first major content licensing partner with OpenAI’s Sora in a new three-year agreement that will also see the entertainment juggernaut make a $1 billion investment in the AI company.

The agreement will grant Sora and ChatGPT more than 200 characters from Disney properties like Marvel, Pixar, and “Star Wars,” conceivably allowing users to make those characters do whatever they can think up. It’s unclear what stake Disney will receive in OpenAI with its 10-figure investment.

According to a press release: “Alongside the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.”

In a statement about the deal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it “shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help works reach vast new audiences.”

For Disney, the partnership is a bit of an AI tune change. In June, the company sued AI photo generator Midjourney on copyright grounds. In September, it sent a cease and desist letter to Character.AI and sued Chinese AI company MiniMax, alleging that its product “pirates and plunders Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works on a massive scale.”

In a move seemingly related to the deal, Disney’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to Google on Wednesday night, per Variety.

As quoted by the outlet, the letter alleges that “Google is infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale, by copying a large corpus of
Disney’s copyrighted works without authorization to train and develop generative artificial intelligence (‘AI’) models and services, and by using AI models and services to commercially exploit and distribute copies of its protected works to consumers in violation of Disney’s copyrights.”