Disney and Universal sued AI image generation company Midjourney last week, alleging that the startup plagiarized characters from their movies and shows. The two studios claim that Midjourney ripped its characters, such as Homer Simpson and Star Wars’ Yoda and Darth Vader, and copied them without compensation or credit. But why are the studios getting involved in the AI debate now? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break it down.
While the use of AI in the entertainment industry has been contentious, the big movie studios have largely stayed out of the debate until now. This lawsuit comes as Midjourney gears up to launch a video generation service that will use copyrighted and non-copyrighted images submitted by users. It also appears the studios targeted Midjourney as a relatively small company, instead of going up against big tech players like Amazon or Meta. “I think the fact that this was a smaller player, less likely to have high powered lawyers, and Disney feels like they can go up against this company relatively easily,” Belloni says.
The courts will decide whether the use of copyrighted images in generative AI models constitutes fair use. President Donald Trump hasn’t specifically taken a stance on using copyrighted material in AI, but under his administration, the courts have generally sided with the tech companies. Belloni theorizes that the studios want to get legal clarification on AI in TV and film, without antagonizing Trump: “They do not want to get into a public war with Trump on this issue, but suing in federal court is a way to litigate this issue against a very specific company, without addressing the larger issue with the Trump administration.”