Disney Shelves AI Projects Amidst Legal and Union Concerns

Walt Disney Co. has reportedly abandoned several artificial intelligence initiatives due to unresolved legal uncertainties and ongoing negotiations with actor and writer guilds, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. These setbacks highlight emerging complexities surrounding copyright ownership within the rapidly evolving field of generative AI.

The company’s exploration of AI technologies follows earlier demonstrations, including a video released by Lucasfilm – a Disney subsidiary – in May that generated considerable controversy. One particularly ambitious project involved utilizing AI to digitally recreate Dwayne Johnson for the forthcoming live-action remake of Moana. The plan, which reportedly received Johnson’s approval, aimed to use deepfake technology to place his likeness onto the body of his cousin, Tanoai Reed. Preliminary filming had commenced before discussions with AI partner Metaphysic dissolved.

Disney’s legal team was unable to provide assurance that the company would possess full intellectual property rights over content generated using these methods. This ambiguity effectively halted the “digital cloning” effort and precluded Johnson’s appearance in the film, slated for release next July.

Beyond the Moana project, Disney also suspended plans to incorporate AI into Tron: Ares for generating animations of Bit, a binary assistant character. While technical challenges contributed to this decision, company officials cited concerns about potential backlash during contract negotiations with labor unions as another significant factor.

The setbacks underscore a growing awareness within Disney regarding the delicate balance between leveraging innovative technologies and safeguarding its established copyright protections – a concern it has actively voiced in legal action against AI image generators like Midjourney alongside Universal Studios. In their lawsuit, Disney and Universal characterized Midjourney as exploiting copyrighted material without proper compensation.

Experts note that while certain generative AI models rely on data scraped from the internet, potentially raising infringement risks, other studios are exploring the creation of proprietary AI systems trained exclusively on company-owned assets—a strategy similar to the deepfake technology employed in Star Wars: Rogue One to portray actor Peter Cushing. To avoid copyright complications, any bespoke AI model would necessitate custom training solely on a company’s internal intellectual property library.