During Disney’s latest earnings call, CEO Bob Iger spoke about next steps for the Disney+ streaming service, and he noted that the entertainment giant has had “productive conversations” with potential AI partners. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ might soon play host to user-generated short-form AI videos.
“The other thing that we’re really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content — mostly short-form — from others,” Iger said. He didn’t specify which companies Disney has been in talks with or offer any particularly timeline for the arrival of gen-AI features.
There are already a bunch of ways for people to make and share AI slop videos, so this isn’t a new concept he’s touting. But it is a surprising direction for Disney, which has long been hawkish about protecting both its image and its IP. The company has already made legal moves against multiple different AI platforms, including a cease and desist sent to Character.AI and copyright infringement lawsuits against Midjourney and Hailuo. Iger said he hoped any partnership would “reflect our need to protect the IP,” and it would almost certainly be a lucrative deal for Disney. But even within the confines of its own platform, this is still quite an about-face for the company to now encourage gen-AI creations of familiar characters.
