Disney and Universal are taking action against Midjourney for illegally using their content for AI-generated images.
According to NBC News, the lawsuit is the first of its kind, alleging that Midjourney ignored requests to stop using Star Wars, The Simpsons, and other entertainment content to generate artificial artwork. The other examples include AI-generated pictures of characters from Toy Story, The Avengers, Shrek, Cars, and Despicable Me.
Disney and Universal's joint statement accused Midjourney of “calculated and willful" misuse of their original content. They said, “Midjourney is the quintessential copyright-free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism". Despite action taken by both against the AI image generator, Midjourney continued to update its software and blatantly ignored all requests to stop. Disney and Universal did not receive a reply to their letters to Midjourney, despite the company's claim that they're reviewing them.
Midjourney continues to attract new subscribers and made $300 million last year through its misuse of content from Disney and Universal. It will be interesting to see the results of this case, as the use of AI content becomes a growing concern in various sectors, including education, media, and the entertainment industry.
The Walt Disney Company's senior executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer, Horacio Gutierrez, reaffirmed Disney's commitment to fight the illegal use of AI. Gutierrez said, “We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity". Nevertheless, as the use of AI becomes more widespread, the boundary between using it responsibly for creative pursuits and using it to cheat, mislead, and plagiarize content is quickly blurring.
There needs to be a limit on easy access to AI technology. The effects of this technology are already apparent in various industries. With the rise of AI technology among students, there's a real risk of producing a workforce that's fully dependent on Artificial Intelligence to solve its problems. Some apps allow you to submit assignments done using AI to help them sound more human. This is a slippery slope, and not enough is being done to stop it.
Perhaps, powerful companies like Disney and Universal can protect their intellectual property from piracy and illegal AI technology. However, ordinary people, including artists, illustrators, writers, and musicians, are at major risk as AI bots are fed all available online content created by hardworking people like us. How far must we go to protect our ideas from AI technology, and does anyone care enough to stop this technology before it goes too far?
Hopefully, Disney and Universal's victory in this case will be the start of strong laws to protect the rest of us from suffering the side effects of AI.
Star Wars is streaming on Disney+.