Earlier today, The Walt Disney Company announced that it is investing $1 billion in OpenAI in a new three-year licensing agreement. The new partnership will allow the ChatGPT maker’s Sora AI video generator to create user-prompted social videos that feature more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars from early 2026.
It’s worth noting that the agreement doesn’t include talent likenesses or voices. What’s more, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also indicated that there will be elaborate measures and guardrails in place to control how Disney’s characters will be used in Sora.
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.
Disney CEO, Bob Iger
“We want to participate in what Sam is creating, what his team is creating,” Disney’s CEO indicated while speaking to CNBC. “We think this is a good investment for the company.”
Still, Iger emphasizes the importance of respecting and safeguarding creators and their works despite permitting OpenAI to access Disney’s copyrighted content.
The OpenAI deal “does not in any way represent a threat to creators at all,” Iger added.
Disney said it will receive warrants to purchase additional equity and will become a major OpenAI customer. A selection of videos generated by users will also be available for streaming on Disney+, potentially allowing the company to hop onto the short-form video content hype like Instagram’s Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok videos.
This news comes as the copyright infringement-related cases against OpenAI continue to rise. OpenAI was recently compelled by a Manhattan judge to produce 20 million chat logs from ChatGPT users in its ongoing court battle with the New York Times. Sam Altman argued that copyright law doesn’t categorically prohibit the use of copyrighted content for training AI models while branding it as “fair use”.
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