Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, an AI image generation startup, alleging that its technology generates unauthorized copies of their work. The complaint includes dozens of images that allegedly show how Midjourney created infringing works, such as an image of Yoda holding a lightsaber. IP lawyer Chad Hummel says this is a significant development, as it challenges the company’s fair use claim and argues that the output is not sufficiently transformative.
Professor Matthew Sag believes Midjourney will have a harder time making a fair use case than previous AI defendants because Disney directly attacks the output of the model, rather than just using cherry-picked examples. The lawsuit alleges that Midjourney ignored licensing demands from Disney and Universal to prevent its image generators from producing infringing materials.
Midjourney trained its tools by scraping the internet to create large datasets of images, without obtaining specific licenses. This has led to a new market for licensing creative works as training data, with companies like ProRata and Dataset Providers Alliance operating as go-betweens between creatives and AI firms.
The conflict is seen as an existential threat to the film industry, which has created millions of jobs and contributed billions to the nation’s economy. The case could shape the future of generative AI in Hollywood, with major studios taking a stance on copyright infringement.
AI companies continue to roll out increasingly sophisticated tools, including Google’s Veo 3 video generator. However, when major studios like Disney take aim at AI startups, it has the potential to influence the industry’s trajectory.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/disney-universal-sue-midjourney