Google removes AI Disney videos after receiving cease-and-desist letter
Google has taken down dozens of AI-generated videos after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to the organisation.
Disney lashed out at Google with a legal warning, which claimed that the tech giant was using material belonging to Disney and manipulating it with generative AI to “commercially exploit and distribute” infringing material.
On December 12th, Google removed several videos generated by artificial intelligence depicting characters like the iconic figures of Mickey Mouse and Darth Vader.
“We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them,” a spokesperson for Google said to multiple outlets when asked for a comment on the matter.
They continued, “More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.”
Before this, Disney had claimed that the company was “intentionally amplifying the scope of its infringement.” Their letter also noted that several characters from Disney’s IP were being utilised online by Google, such as characters from The Lion King, Moana, Deadpool, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars.
Disney also claimed that Google “refused to implement any technological measures to mitigate or prevent copyright infringement,” though the new statement amicably contradicts that claim.
Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, shared with CNBC, “Well, we’ve been aggressive at protecting our IP, and we’ve gone after other companies that have not honored our IP, not respected our IP, not valued it. And this is another example of us doing just that.”
This update comes after Disney recently confirmed a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI. As a result of the new agreement, more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters will become available to access on OpenAI’s video-generation tool, Sora.
In a press release, Disney said it will use OpenAI’s application programming interfaces “to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+”. They also confirmed plans to begin “deploying ChatGPT for its employees”.
Several unions have since expressed concern over the Disney-OpenAI deal.
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