Disney CEO Bob Iger discusses the company’s huge OpenAI investment and says creators shouldn’t feel threatened by the deal during an interview on CNBC.
After Disney announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, CEO Bob Iger assured creators in a Thursday interview that their jobs would not be threatened.
The rise of AI has been acutely felt by those in the entertainment industry who are wary of being replaced, who now see that images, animation, and even voice acting can be done in moments with rapidly improving AI programs. Sora in particular is a program where users, merely by typing, can create short videos with images and sound based upon their requests.
Disney, which has been very deliberate with how its brand is perceived, recently cut a massive deal with OpenAI, part of which will be to allow Sora users to make AI-generated videos with Disney’s copyrighted characters.
“This is a great opportunity for the company to enable consumers to engage with our characters on what is probably the most modern of technology and media platforms today,” Iger said in a Thursday interview on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street. “And it not only gives consumers or users an opportunity to do so, but it also is significant because in this deal, OpenAI is both respecting and valuing our creativity, both of our characters, but also those that have created those characters. So it gives us an opportunity, really, to play a part in what is really a breathtaking, breathtaking growth in essentially AI and a new forms of media and entertainment.”
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Disney CEO Bob Iger said that creators should not feel threatened by this investment and partnership, arguing it actually honors their work. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Over 200 characters ranging from Star Wars’ Darth Vader to Mickey Mouse and Princess Cinderella will be available on the platform through a licensing agreement that will last for three years. While the voices of voice-actors will not be included in this initiative, the Disney CEO also assured that other creatives will not be threatened with replacements either.
“We are not including name and likeness, nor are we including character voices, and so in reality, this does not in any way represent a threat to the creators at all,” he said. “In fact, the opposite. I think it honors them and respects them in part because there’s a license fee associated with it.”
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Disney has historically been very careful and deliberate with its brand, and assured that safeguards will be in place with the use of its family-friendly characters. (Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG via Getty Images / Getty Images)
He then spoke about the guardrails to ensure Disney-owned characters are used responsibly.
“The other thing it does is it enables us to be comfortable that OpenAI is putting guardrails essentially around how these are used, so that really there’s nothing for us to be concerned about from a consumer perspective, meaning this will be a safe environment and a safe way for consumers to engage with our characters in a new way,” he said.
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Disney retains the rights to some of the world’s most iconic and recognizable characters, ranging from the original creations of the Walt Disney company to other properties the corporation has bought the rights to over the years. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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