In addition to licensing well-known characters like Mickey Mouse and Cinderella to Sora, OpenAI’s short-form artificial intelligence video platform, Walt Disney Co. committed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI.
According to a statement from Disney on Thursday, as part of the three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to create brief, user-prompted social videos that fans can watch and share, utilizing a library of more than 200 animated and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. There are no talent likenesses or voices covered under the agreement.
Disney will also become a significant client of OpenAI, utilizing its tools to create new experiences and products and implementing ChatGPT for its staff.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said that AI is progressing quickly and transforming the industry. He added that Disney’s partnership with OpenAI will help them use generative AI in a careful and responsible way, expanding their storytelling while safeguarding creators and their work.
Hollywood studios have been hesitant to cooperate with an AI startup because they are concerned about how the company would utilize their data and about upsetting the labor unions they deal with on a daily basis. However, Bloomberg News has previously reported that OpenAI has been discussing the creative and commercial possibilities of Sora with the biggest companies in the business, including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., and Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures.
In September, the AI developer released a new version of Sora as an invitation-only stand-alone social app. Similar to the original Sora, which debuted in December of last year, users may produce brief movies in response to text instructions; however, the new app lets users view other people’s recordings. In addition, users may construct a realistic-looking AI avatar and voice for themselves, which, with the owner’s consent, can be added to films created by the user or their friends using the app.
