Users of OpenAI’s video generation app will soon be able to see their own faces alongside characters from Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and Disney’s animated films, according to a joint announcement from the startup and Disney on Thursday. Perhaps you, Lightning McQueen and Iron Man are all dancing together in the Mos Eisley Cantina.
Sora is an app made by OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, which allows users to generate videos of up to 20 seconds through short text prompts. The startup previously attempted to steer Sora’s output away from unlicensed copyrighted material, though with little success, which prompted threats of lawsuits by rights holders.
Disney announced that it would invest $1bn in OpenAI and, under a three-year deal perhaps worth even more than that large sum, that it would license about 200 of its iconic characters – from R2-D2 to Stitch – for users to play with in OpenAI’s video generation app.
Examples of content generated by OpenAI’s Sora with Disney properties. Photograph: OpenAI
At a time of intense anxiety in Hollywood over the impact of AI on the livelihoods of writers, actors, visual effects artists and other creatives, Disney stressed its agreement with OpenAI would not cover talent likenesses or voices.
The announcement was framed as an extraordinary opportunity to empower fans.
Think of the “fan-inspired Sora short form videos”, as Disney called them in a press release – akin to taking an AI-generated version of a photo with Princess Jasmine at Disney World. OpenAI included screenshots of these kinds of videos in its press release, indicating how the two companies expect people to use the app’s new cast. Sora already allows users to generate videos that include their own likenesses.
Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, said the licensing deal would place “imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in ways we’ve never seen before”.
They may even offer a chance at wide viewership, with some fan-made videos being displayed on the Disney+ streaming service, a move seemingly designed to compete with TikTok’s and YouTube Shorts’ infinite feeds, which themselves often include clips of popular TV shows and movies.
