Disney says Google trained AI models on Star Wars, Moana, Deadpool and other copyrighted works without consent.
The company claims Google’s AI tools can generate Disney-like images and videos, amounting to unauthorised distribution.
The allegations surfaced the same day Disney announced a USD 1 billion investment and content-licensing deal with OpenAI.
Disney has reportedly accused Google of exploiting its copyrighted content to train AI models without permission, raising industry-wide concerns about how tech giants are sourcing data to train generative AI systems. According to the reports citing a cease-and-desist letter filed by Disney’s legal team this week, the popular streaming company alleges Google copied extensive portions of its library, including material from franchises such as Star Wars, Moana and Deadpool to build and power its AI tools.
SurveyThe letter, obtained by Variety, also complained that Google’s AI products can generate images and videos that directly mimic Disney-owned works, which the company claims constitutes unauthorised distribution. Disney has also demanded that Google implement stricter safeguards across all of its AI services to prevent the reproduction of protected content.
“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,” the lawsuit stated.
This is not the first time Disney has taken action against AI developers. The company has also issued a similar notice to Character.AI and is currently pursuing legal action against Hailuo and Midjourney for alleged intellectual property violations.
This comes on the same day that Disney announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI. As part of the agreement, Disney will license specific characters and content for use in Sora, OpenAI’s video generation platform. The agreement also includes a USD 1 billion investment in OpenAI with an option to increase its stake in the future, implying that even as Disney confronts unlicensed AI use.
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Ashish Singh
Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile
