Disney OpenAI AI deal: Disney invests $1B, licensing iconic characters for Sora video generator while demanding Google stop using its IP

Los Angeles, California — The Walt Disney Company is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and bringing its iconic characters, including Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Luke Skywalker, to the company’s Sora AI video generation tool under a new licensing deal announced Thursday.

Also read:African Animation on the Rise: Nearly a Third of Co-Production Pitch Projects at MIA Come From Africa, Disney’s ‘Kizazi Moto’ in Spotlight

The three-year agreement allows fans to use Sora to generate short videos featuring over 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. Some user-generated content will also be made available on Disney+ as part of the collaboration.

“This agreement 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,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said. Disney CEO Robert Iger added that the partnership will “extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works.”

Under the deal, Disney will also become a major customer of OpenAI, deploying its technology for internal tools, services, and rolling out ChatGPT for employees.

The announcement comes amid criticism from children’s advocacy groups. Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, called the partnership a “betrayal of countless children” and accused the companies of using beloved characters to attract young users to a platform that is not intended for children.

In a separate move on Thursday, Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter demanding the tech giant stop using its copyrighted content to train AI models, including its Veo video generator and Imagen and Nano Banana image generators.

Disney claimed Google had “massively” infringed its copyrights and amplified the problem by distributing the infringing content across platforms such as YouTube.

“Well, we have been aggressive at protecting our IP, and we have gone after other companies that have not honoured our IP…this is another example of us doing just that,” Iger said in an interview with CNBC.

Also read: ‘Inspired by the spirit of Lagos’: Disney releases trailer for Afro-futurist animation Iwájú

Disney has previously targeted Meta, Character.AI, and filed litigation against AI company Minimax and NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery over AI content use. Google has yet to comment on the latest cease-and-desist.