People with all the money and power just love giving money to other people with money and power in the hopes of getting both money and power. How’s that for a sentence? Hollywood has increasingly, and very quickly, become billionaires vying for supremacy and actively ignoring the audience in favor of whatever they think will save them money. Not only do we have moguls fighting over who gets to buy major studios, but we have perhaps the largest studio investing a billion dollars in OpenAI. Why? So that people can make shorts using licensed characters.
We told you about this possibility last month, but as per The Hollywood Reporter, not only has Disney CEO Bob Iger made a deal with Sora and OpenAI, but that the company has spent a billy on it. The three-year licensing deal would “allow users of its AI video creation platform Sora to create clips using iconic characters from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars franchises.” This signals that major studios are looking to embrace AI in their intellectual property spaces, as opposed to fight against it like literally all the artists and creatives who make the stuff wants.
Despite the initial proposal allowing Disney+ users to make short-form videos using beloved characters, the indication seems to be Iger testing the waters to see if studios can monetize AI-generated content. This comes after, only back in July, Disney and Universal launched a lawsuit against OpenAI competitor Midjourney. The suit, in part, called the artificial intelligence firm “a bottomless pit of plagiarism.” The difference appears to be that it’s only plagiarism if Disney doesn’t get a slice of it. This feature will be added to Disney+ early next year.
From our perspective here at Nerdist, generative AI, whether for personal/”fun” use or for more nefarious purposes, removes the essential human element from creative endeavors. Be it filmmaking, graphic art, music, or in our case, journalism, generative AI dilutes and poisons the proverbial well.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.