Disney & Universal team up against Midjourney for AI copyright lawsuit

Generative AI start-up Midjourney is facing a landmark lawsuit from Disney and Universal over copyright infringement.

For the uninitiated, generative AI is a type of AI that focuses on creating new data based on existing data, and it’s been in the news a lot recently.  

Earlier this week, a BFI report found that more than 130,000 movie and TV scripts have been used to train generative AI models. Prior to this was the AI image generator trend on ChatGPT, which saw hundreds of people creating images in the style of Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki.

The issue is that with no laws in place, tech companies are operating in a legal grey zone. However, Disney and Universal is refusing to put up with it.

Disney & Universal file landmark lawsuit against AI firm

The legal complaint, filed on Wednesday, June 11, is the first time major Hollywood companies have sued over AI-generated imagery, according to The New York Times. Midjourney is one of many firms that use data to train their generative AI models.

The Hollywood studios claim that the firm “helped itself to countless” copyrighted works from its various properties, which in turn allows users to create imagery that “blatantly incorporate and copy Disney’s and Universal’s famous characters.”

And with video generators now rising in prevalence, it’s only a matter of time before AI-made videos of its valuable IP are created.

Quotes from the court documents obtained by the outlet state, “Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism.” A number of examples are shared in the docs, including AI-generated images of Frozen’s Elsa, The Simpsons’ Homer, Darth Vadar, Shrek, Minions, and Spider-Man.

Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s general counsel, said: “We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it’s done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.”

Kim Harris, general counsel of NBCUniversal, added, “We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content.”