In what could be considered a reversal to its prior approach of lawsuits and cease & desist letters to artificial intelligence companies, the Walt Disney Company and OpenAI have reached a landmark 3-year licensing agreement to bring beloved Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters to Sora. A selection of these short-form user-generated videos will also come to the Disney+ streaming service. Here’s the official announcement followed by our commentary.
As part of this deal, Disney becomes the first major content licensing partner on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform. According to the company, the agreement brings these “leaders in creativity and innovation together to unlock new possibilities in imaginative storytelling.” (That’s a direct quote. Although I am curious as to what, exactly, OpenAI has created.)
Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing from a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, including costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments.
In addition, ChatGPT Images will be able to turn a few words by the user into fully generated images, drawing from the same Disney IP. The agreement does not include any talent likenesses or voices (presumably because Disney does not have blanket rights to actor likenesses, as evidenced by Indiana Jones Adventure).
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. Also as part of the agreement, Disney is making a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, and receiving warrants to purchase additional equity.
Disney and OpenAI have expressed a shared commitment to the responsible use of AI that protects user safety and the rights of creators. Together, the companies claim they will advance human-centered AI that respects the creative industries and expands what is possible for storytelling.
“Technological innovation has continually shaped the evolution of entertainment, bringing with it new ways to create and share great stories with the world,” said Robert A. Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works. Bringing together Disney’s iconic stories and characters with OpenAI’s groundbreaking technology puts imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in ways we’ve never seen before, giving them richer and more personal ways to connect with the Disney characters and stories they love.”
“Disney is the global gold standard for storytelling, and we’re excited to partner to allow Sora and ChatGPT Images to expand the way people create and experience great content,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. “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.”
People will be able to watch curated selections of Sora-generated videos on Disney+, and OpenAI and Disney will collaborate to utilize OpenAI’s models to power new experiences for Disney+ subscribers, allegedly “furthering innovative and creative ways to connect with Disney’s stories and characters.” Sora and ChatGPT Images are expected to start generating fan-inspired videos with Disney’s multi-brand licensed characters in early 2026.
Among the characters fans will be able to use in their creations are Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Lilo, Stitch, Ariel, Belle, Beast, Cinderella, Baymax, Simba, Mufasa, as well as characters from the worlds of Encanto, Frozen, Inside Out, Moana, Monsters Inc., Toy Story, Up, Zootopia, and many more; plus animated or illustrated versions of Marvel and Lucasfilm characters like Black Panther, Captain America, Deadpool, Groot, Iron Man, Loki, Thor, Thanos, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia, the Mandalorian, Stormtroopers, Yoda and more.
As part of the agreement, OpenAI has committed to continuing its industry leadership in implementing responsible measures to further address trust and safety, including age-appropriate policies and other reasonable controls across the service. In addition, OpenAI and Disney have affirmed a shared commitment to maintaining robust controls to prevent the generation of illegal or harmful content, to respect the rights of content owners in relation to the outputs of models, and to respect the rights of individuals to appropriately control the use of their voice and likeness.
Our Commentary
It feels like only a week or so ago, we were writing about how Disney is not a tech company in Disney Wants to ‘Break Spell’ of Guests Glued to Phones in Parks. In that, we commented about the curious decision to feature Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in “We Call It Imagineering,” which was likely for the specific purpose of getting Wall Street’s favorite CEO to say “at the core, Disney is a technology company.”
No one was concerned with that angle in the comments, but it seems even more apropos today. In any case, we’ll start with yet another reminder: Disney is not a tech company. As a consumer that does business with Disney, you probably need not be reminded of this. Your personal experiences with Disney are proof positive of this.
We’re nevertheless emphasizing this because Disney really, really wants to be viewed (and valued by Wall Street) as a tech company. That’s a relevant reminder every time Disney does something like this because that’s precisely why they’re doing it. That was true with Disney’s forays into the metaverse, Cinderella Castle Mural of Memories NFT, Prime-Style Membership Program, AI Task Force, and so on and so forth.
Even more narrowly than that, it seems that Disney now wants to be viewed as an artificial intelligence company. Or at least, AI-adjacent. There’s a lot of AI frothiness on Wall Street, and investors want every company to be an AI company. Hence the circularity of AI investments and eagerness of CEOs to leap at the “opportunity” to be associated with OpenAI. (A risk-free move that definitely will never, ever backfire.)
At the risk of stating the obvious, I am vehemently anti-AI. I do not use it as a consumer or writer, which might be hard to believe given the “quality” of some of the output here, but I assure you that’s the result of being a sleep-deprived parent (or getting a bit too liberal with copying & pasting press releases).
Part of my anti-AI posture is, admittedly, self-interest. Artificial intelligence has already had a measurable negative impact on websites like this one and the internet as a whole. It strikes me as one of those crutches that gets embraced without proper consideration of long-term consequences because it’s easy and efficient, but that ends up making us lazier, dumber and just generally worse off over time.
Then there’s what it does to us creatively. I worry about a future where human artists are marginalized even further than they already are, in favor of entering prompts into a machine. One problem (of many) with that, is that ChatGPT and these models aren’t making anything new. It’s all derivative. The models need to be trained on actual art, which needs to be created by a person.
It’s also lacking in humanity. The sparks of personality, charm and character that define art created by actual people. That list of ~200 Disney characters would not exist in a world of pervasive AI “art.” There would be no Mickey Mouse, no Cinderella, no Stitch, and no Darth Vader in exactly the world we’re careening towards where art is a photocopy of a photocopy.
Disney can claim that this is being done to “advance human-centered AI that respects the creative industries and expands what is possible for storytelling.” But c’mon, does anyone really believe that?! Even the least-cynical reading of this deal that I can muster involves the creation of free user-generated content for Disney+, reducing the need for actual human-created programming.
Look, I understand Disney’s position in doing a deal like this with OpenAI. (Or at least, I think I do?) There’s a recognition that AI is here to stay, and those that don’t get on board are going to be left behind. That partnering with OpenAI is good for business, and the stock price. That lawsuits are only forestalling the inevitable. Maybe this is even puts some guardrails on AI, providing a ‘compromise’ path forward.
I am somewhat sympathetic to this perspective. Even so, it seems like Disney is giving up a lot here while not gaining all that much. It’s not just the money, either. This is the first legacy media company to strike a deal like this with OpenAI, meaning that Disney is also lending its storied 100-year-old brand to legitimize OpenAI. (As for the monetary component, I’d direct you to this piece: OpenAI Is Good at Deals.)
I also firmly believe that the best way for current corporate leaders to be stewards of Walt Disney’s creative enterprise is to not jump into bed with AI companies. That this is one scenario where it’s not just okay to be behind the curve (whatever that even means) as a business, but that it is the ethically “correct” position to take as a creative company. That they should be fighting this encroachments on human creativity, as they have with the lawsuits and C&D letters.
Instead, the Walt Disney Company is entering a “landmark” deal to be the first major content licensing partner with OpenAI. An entity that is anathema to art and human creativity. Between the foundational nature of the Walt Disney Company and already-souring sentiment towards AI, this just strikes me as a misstep. But hey, at least it’ll be good for a 1% boost to the stock price for a day!
Need Disney trip planning tips and comprehensive advice? Make sure to read Disney Parks Vacation Planning Guides, where you can find comprehensive guides to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond! For Disney updates, discount information, free downloads of our eBooks and wallpapers, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of TWDC partnering with OpenAI? Is this something that Walt Disney’s company or any creative enterprise should be doing? Are you impressed, underwhelmed, or terrified by AI? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!