AI Art Sparks Lawsuit: Disney and Universal Take on Midjourney

Midjourney is making waves with its new AI video tool, V1. This tool lets users create short animated clips from images they generate or upload. But there is a twist. The tool can produce animations featuring well-known characters from Disney and Universal. This includes a video of Wall-E, the beloved Pixar character, holding a gun. It is important to note that the current version of Midjourney’s AI video tool requires an image as a starting point. It does not support generating videos using text-only prompts. The release of V1 comes at a time when Midjourney is already facing legal trouble. Earlier in June, Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney. They claim that Midjourney violates copyright law by creating images using their intellectual property. This lawsuit is a big deal. It could have serious consequences for Midjourney and the AI industry as a whole. Midjourney has not responded to requests for comment. But Disney and Universal have made their stance clear. They view Midjourney’s actions as "piracy. " It seems Midjourney tried to add some safety measures for V1. During tests, it blocked animations based on certain characters like Elsa, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse. But these measures are not foolproof. The tool can still generate animated clips of many other Universal and Disney characters. For example, when asked for an image of Minions eating a banana, Midjourney generated recognizable versions of the cute, yellow characters. Then, when the "Animate" button was clicked, Midjourney created a video of the characters eating a banana. This shows that the safety measures are not enough. Users can still create animations of copyrighted characters. The lawsuit from Disney and Universal is a big threat to Midjourney. The complaint alleges that video generation would make it even easier for Midjourney to distribute infringing copies. It also mentions that Midjourney faces additional legal challenges from visual artists. They allege copyright infringement as well. This is a complex issue. It raises questions about creativity, ownership, and the future of AI in art. The complaint includes many examples of alleged Midjourney images showing Universal and Disney characters. These images were initially produced as part of a report on Midjourney’s so-called "visual plagiarism problem. " The report was written by AI critic and cognitive scientist Gary Marcus and visual artist Reid Southen. They pointed out this problem 18 months ago. But there has been little progress. This raises concerns about the effectiveness of current guardrails in AI art generation.