Disney strikes licensing deal with OpenAI, agrees to $US1b investment
Molly Schuetz
Disney has agreed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and license iconic characters like Mickey Mouse and Cinderella for use on the startup’s short-form AI video platform.
As part of innovation three year agreementOpenAI Sora will be able to leverage a library of more than 200 animated and creature characters, from Lilo and Stitch to Ariel and Simba, when creating AI videos in response to user requests. But the deal announced Thursday does not include any talent likenesses or voices. So it might be possible for Woody to appear in a video. Toy Story but without Tom Hanks’ voice.
“The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence marks an important time for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI, we will thoughtfully and responsibly expand the scope of our storytelling through generative AI while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said in a statement.
As part of the deal, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its tools to create new products and experiences and deploy ChatGPT for its employees.
Sora and ChatGPT Images are expected to begin creating videos featuring Disney characters in early 2026.
The deal represents the largest capital investment by a major Hollywood studio in an AI model developer to date.
OpenAI spent months in talks with Hollywood’s biggest studios, including Disney, Comcast, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Discovery, about Sora’s creative and commercial potential, Bloomberg News previously reported. But studios have been reluctant to do business with an AI company, wary of how their data could be used and anger the labor unions they work with every day.
Disney and Comcast sued another AI company, Midjourney, for copyright infringement earlier this year.
From film to music to books, creative industries have struggled to balance protecting valuable copyrights with powerful new technologies available to consumers that offer a potential new path for growth. Media companies that own the copyrights say companies that develop these models should pay them so they can be trained on their work. Major labels sued two audio AI startups last year, but Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group recently settled with Udio and struck deals to collaborate on a new commercial music creation and streaming service.
OpenAI introduced a new version of Sora in September as a standalone social app available by invitation. As with the original Sora, which launched last December, users can create short clips in response to text commands, but the new app allows people to view videos created by others. Beyond that, users can create a realistic-looking AI avatar and their own voices that can be added to videos made with the app by the user or their friends, with the permission of the avatar owner.
“Disney is the global gold standard in storytelling, and we’re excited to partner to enable Sora and ChatGPT Images to expand how people create and experience great content,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI has raised tens of billions of dollars to help cover the cost of the talent, chips and data centers needed to build and support cutting-edge AI models. The secondary share sale, completed earlier this year, valued the company at US$500 billion.
