OpenAI secured a $1B investment from The Walt Disney Co. as part of a deal that will enable OpenAI to license IP from the company for its Sora video generator. So is this one of those classic OpenAI circular deals where the company dishes out equity in exchange for investment that ultimately goes back to the investing party?
Here's what we know about the deal:
- Disney is investing $1B and also receiving warrants that will enable it to purchase an unspecified amount of additional equity at a later date at an undisclosed valuation.
- OpenAI will obtain a 3 year license to more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm franchises, enabling them to incorporate these characters into their Sora video generation model, which in turn will give users the ability to “generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans.”.
- Technically, OpenAI likely already trained Sora on Disney IP without the license, but now their training is becoming legit.
- The agreement does not include actor likenesses or voices, and the companies are setting up governance around how the IP can be used, including brand and safety guardrails.
- Disney said it will make a curated selection of fan-made Sora videos available to stream on Disney+.
- Both Sora and ChatGPT's image generator will start providing access to the character content early next year.
- The companies framed the partnership as a responsible AI arrangement that protects users and creators.
- Disney also plans to deploy ChatGPT internally and use OpenAI’s APIs to build new products and experiences, including for Disney+.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said that the deal allows Disney to “be comfortable that OpenAI is putting guardrails essentially around how these are used,” and that, “really, there’s nothing for us to be concerned about from a consumer perspective.”
Words that will ultimately come back to haunt him after the Internet becomes flooded with Disney characters doing and saying incredibly horrendous things — and OMG is it going to be bad!
“But the guardrails!” LOL, yeah okay. Guardrails aren't exactly something OpenAI has excelled at in the past, and I doubt this will go any better.
The partnership comes just one day after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google, accusing the company of allowing its AI models and YouTube platform to generate and distribute infringing content using Disney-owned characters without permission. Disney alleged that Google’s AI systems were recreating its intellectual property at scale and failing to implement adequate safeguards to prevent misuse. Sounds like Disney pledged allegiance to its chosen AI overlord.