Well, it looks like Disney and Universal have finally jumped on the AI lawsuit bandwagon, suing Midjourney over copyright infringement. In a complaint filed in Los Angeles, the two entertainment giants are accusing Midjourney of using their beloved, copyrighted characters to train its AI model and distributing images featuring these iconic characters.
While it’s not shocking that authors and artists have already filed lawsuits over AI-generated content (seriously, who wouldn’t want to cash in on AI’s weird art skills?), this is the first time that the movie moguls have decided to wade into the AI legal swamp. Spoiler alert: It’s going to be a messy one.
"Hey, That’s My Character!"
The characters in question? Well, Disney and Universal aren’t exactly suing over obscure, forgotten characters. Oh no. They’ve come for the big guns: Disney's Star Wars, Marvel, The Lion King, and The Simpsons, plus Universal’s Shrek and Boss Baby. Who can blame them, right? Imagine your character, who’s probably been through a billion-dollar movie deal, suddenly showing up in some random AI-generated art with zero royalties.
According to the lawsuit, Midjourney lets users subscribe to its image service, then prompts them to create images based on these copyrighted works. Yes, you read that right, users can create their own Shrek or Spider-Man images, download them, and probably slap them on T-shirts to sell. Disney claims that Midjourney has been operating as a "copyright free-rider," generating content that’s practically the poster child for plagiarism, all while making a profit from it.
Disney’s Attempt at Playing Nice...Sort Of
Disney also claims they tried the whole “let’s talk it out” approach before pulling out the big legal guns. They asked Midjourney to stop generating their copyrighted works. Seems reasonable, right? Instead, Midjourney just shrugged it off and went ahead with new versions of its service, plus a video AI service coming soon. Guess Midjourney’s motto is “plagiarize first, apologize never.”
And Disney’s not done. They also point out that Midjourney has the tech to stop its AI from generating violent or NSFW content. So why not use that same tech to block copyrighted images? Fair question, Disney. Midjourney is accused of picking and choosing when to implement safeguards, just not for the stuff Disney actually cares about.
The Growing AI Legal Battle
Midjourney isn’t exactly the first AI company to get into legal trouble. OpenAI and Microsoft are already battling copyright infringement lawsuits, and Anthropic has its own class-action suit hanging over its head. It’s almost like AI is a magnet for legal drama.
In the meantime, Disney and Universal want the court to stop Midjourney from continuing to offer its image and video services until it gets its act together and makes sure users can’t create images of copyrighted works. Midjourney didn’t respond to requests for comment, but I’m sure they’re just busy working on their next AI-generated Shrek.
It looks like AI and copyright laws are in for an ongoing legal showdown, and we’ll just have to wait and see who wins this round of “Who Owns What?”
Gunel Ismayilova
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