After about a year of intense warnings about the impact of artificial intelligence on the film industry, the dam has finally broken, as the first and largest Hollywood studio will officially allow people to use its licensed characters for AI purposes.
A turning point
Walt Disney has announced a $1 billion capital investment in OpenAI, which will allow Sam Altman's artificial intelligence start-up to use characters such as Iron Man, Snow White and Darth Vader in its Sora video generation tool.
Sora users will then be able to generate short videos for social media or their own purposes, drawing on a wide range of characters and visuals from Disney, which also owns Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, among others. All this is part of a three-year licensing agreement between OpenAI and the entertainment giant.
The agreement is a milestone and comes amid growing anxiety in Hollywood about AI and its impact on the future of the film industry. However, Disney emphasises that OpenAI has not gained access to the voices and likenesses of actors and actresses.
Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, said that "it puts imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in a way we've never seen before." It can be assumed that other studios such as Universal and Sony, and especially streaming platforms such as Netflix, will follow Disney's lead in the near future.
Amazon is also weighing in
Just a few days after the agreement between Disney and OpenAI was signed, another major player, Amazon, began to show more interest in artificial intelligence, as expected. Amazon is now reportedly considering an investment of up to $10 billion, specifically in chips that would power its own AI. Overall, OpenAI has announced investments in infrastructure worth $1.4 trillion through various deals in recent months.
Source: mam.cz