Google Takes Down Disney AI Videos Following Cease & Desist

Google is cooperating with Disney‘s cease and desist, removing dozens of AI-generated videos featuring characters belonging to the century-old entertainment conglomerate.

Following the Disney’s $1B deal with OpenAI for three-year licensing of several characters on Sora, Google has taken down dozens of AI videos from YouTube featuring Mickey Mouse, Deadpool, Moana and more.

“We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them,” a Google rep said in a statement. “More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.”

On Wednesday, Disney fired off the letter claiming that Google’s AI training models and services infringe on its copyrights on a “massive scale,” just before the company made the announcement that it has reached a three-year agreement with a Google rival, OpenAI, to provide its characters and IP for use in the latter company’s services.

The timing of the letter appeared to be no coincidence. A source familiar with Disney executives’ thinking said, “Our agreement with OpenAI demonstrates that the world of AI does not have to be lawless, and that technology innovators and creative industries can work together and thrive if they are willing to respect the value of creators and their works.”