Disney Becomes the First Major Media Company to License Its Content to OpenAI

For OpenAI, this marks a significant step: one of the world’s most influential media groups is formally acknowledging its readiness to work with AI-generated content. Under the deal, Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI and receive warrants to purchase additional shares.

The agreement allows the creation of social videos using more than 200 animated characters, masked personas, and creatures from the Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars universes. Users will also gain access to hundreds of signature animated assets, such as lightsabers. They may generate images and short clips for social media, but are prohibited from using the original character voices or producing long-form video content based on Disney’s intellectual property.

Under the terms of the deal, OpenAI commits to introducing additional safety and oversight measures, “including age restrictions and other reasonable mechanisms,” which is particularly important for Disney. The company has repeatedly voiced concern that some AI services popular with children have used its characters’ names and likenesses in inappropriate contexts. The partnership also gives Disney substantial leverage over how its intellectual property is deployed.

To monitor user-generated content, OpenAI and Disney will establish a joint coordination committee to track violations of the extensive brand guidelines that outline prohibited uses of the company’s characters.

Disney hopes the agreement will signal to technology companies that it is prepared to enter into well-balanced partnerships—provided creators’ rights and interests are protected. The company also sees creative potential in the collaboration. According to a source cited by Axios, the arrangement grants Disney certain rights to content produced in Sora using its characters, including the option to select standout user-generated videos and feature them on Disney+.

Against the backdrop of the deal, the company is intensifying pressure on the AI industry over copyright compliance. On Wednesday, it sent Google a demand to halt violations, noting that the issue concerns the large-scale use of protected material. Character.AI received a similar letter in September. In June, Disney and NBCUniversal became the first major studio players to file a lawsuit against the generative-AI company Midjourney; Warner Bros. Discovery later joined the case. In early November, Disney, together with NBCU and WBD, filed a suit against China-based MiniMax, accusing it of the mass pirating of studio content.