Just four months after revealing its billion-dollar investment in OpenAI, Disney has reversed course. Following the announcement Tuesday that OpenAI would be shutting down its Sora video generation tool, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the studio will be exiting the deal it made with the AI giant.
As part of that original deal, Disney agreed to license some characters for use in Sora, specifically characters unassociated with “any talent likenesses or voices.” As Consequence’s Wren Graves put it in our original coverage, “While you might see Elsa building an icy Death Star, you definitely won’t hear voice actor Idina Menzel singing about how Princess Leia needs to let it go.”
Video creation will still be explored by OpenAI through ChatGPT and other services, and Disney may still continue to explore investment opportunities in the AI space. As a spokesperson told THR:
“As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere. We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators.”
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The news is further proof that the entertainment industry is still in the earliest days of figuring out how AI will transform the way things are done. Just last week, the filmmakers behind a long-gestating project starring Val Kilmer revealed how they’ll be using AI so the late actor can still star in the film.
