Disney Licenses Characters to OpenAI, Takes $1 Billion Stake

Bloomberg

Watch Disney Licenses Characters to OpenAI, Takes $1 Billion Stake - Bloomberg on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00This is a big step in IP licensing in the world of generative AI.

00:05Yeah, there's been a lot of anxiety about how AI will affect the entertainment industry,

00:10and Disney's support, its investment in open AI is a huge development. I mean,

00:16this is something that we didn't really expect. There's been a lot of tension and controversy

00:21with AI in film. Dave Lee of Bloomberg Opinion, I get what open AI gets out of this,

00:28a library of creature characters, 200 of them. What does Disney actually get out of it?

00:33Well, look, I was watching an interview with Bob Iger earlier, and it struck me that he's been in

00:38this game a long time, and I think he's actually got a very good deal. I think he's gone to open AI,

00:42and he said, your Sora app, which people are using, is only fun when you use, essentially,

00:48without deals, stolen material, IP from other companies, whether it's Disney or Nintendo or

00:52even the Premier League. And I think Bob Iger says, right, you need this. You need consumer

00:57attention. We know there's a lot of pressure from Google on open AI. And so what Disney gets,

01:03he gets a slice of this big, exciting AI company. They get that billion dollar investment with the

01:07chance to do more. They have a deal that is only exclusive for a year. So if we find that consumers

01:13are really into making these short videos, which I'm not too sure they will be long term,

01:18then he can shop it elsewhere and make more deals like it. And he also gets to go to Google and say,

01:25look, you know, open AI has made a deal. So now you should do as well, because that's how this is

01:29going to run from now on. So I think, honestly, I think Bob Iger has shown his experience here and

01:35made a very smart deal indeed.

01:37Hannah, the company's also disclosed that basically Disney becomes a major customer of open AI. What

01:44other technology work are they going to do together? Yeah, I mean, it's great that they

01:48get to use these open AI tools. You know, they will be able to give access to chat GPT to their

01:54employees. But I think what we can see from this is this is just the beginning that there could be

01:58more down the line. What's really interesting, Dave, is we've heard in the same breath, Bob Iger

02:04really confirming that he's sent a cease and desist to Google. We know that they've been litigious

02:10about their IP when it comes to mid-journey, when it comes to Chinese generative AI opportunities.

02:16Are we then, after this year of exclusion, just going to see a whole myriad of deals being done?

02:21And what will Hollywood and creatives think about it?

02:24I mean, there's two sides to it, isn't there? I think, yes, there'll be deals done, or at least

02:28there'll be attempts and maybe more lawsuits instead if the deals aren't made. You will see

02:34this increased uneasiness. And we're already seeing out of Hollywood of people saying, well,

02:37what's Disney's endgame here if they're going to start using OpenAI's technology?

02:43I think this is, if anything, quite a troubling development for the AI companies. Because,

02:48you know, if OpenAI is going to have to give away a billion dollars of its firm to all these

02:53people who want intellectual property, well, then there's not going to be enough of the

02:57company to go around. And, you know, I have to think to myself, you know, if you're someone

03:01who's backing OpenAI, you're thinking, OK, we've got Mickey Mouse. He's not allowed to talk,

03:06probably, and they're going to be short clips. Is this really getting us to super intelligence?

03:11Like, is this an important part of that? I don't see it personally. I feel quite cynical

03:16about this entire deal, I have to say. But there's a lot there that I think is troubling

03:20for AI companies looking to do some of the same things next year.

03:23Dave, Dave, just real quick. That's what I'm trying to understand. Who has the balance of

03:27power here? Which side needs the other more? The studios in Hollywood or the AI labs?

03:33Do you know what? I think the question is, for the studios in Hollywood, they can live

03:37without being working with these AI companies. So they might as well just get as good a deal

03:41as they can get. And if they're not happy with it, they can walk away. And that's perhaps

03:44why Google was in a stronger position. It'd be interesting to see how the talks now have

03:49to, you know, carry on with Google and Disney. Because OpenAI realised that they don't have

03:55any other business with Disney. So there's no incentive for Disney to sort of bend more to

03:59their will. I think in Google's case, you know, Disney just signed a new multi-year

04:03deal with YouTube TV, for example. So there's a much more sort of close meshing there between

04:08those companies. I wouldn't be surprised if some agreement came out of, you know, around

04:13Sora and Google quite soon. But yeah, I think that's where we're going to see these sort of

04:17interesting power plays. But if you're an owner of intellectual property, really good stuff,

04:22particularly, like I say, like Nintendo or football companies, I think you're in a very,

04:26very strong position. It really is notable, though, I think that some of these large language

04:30model developers would say, and chatbot owners are saying, we are amazed at how much people

04:35are using them for image generation. Even if it doesn't lead us to super intelligence,

04:39it's an addictive element to the use and maybe outperforms, therefore, and who wants to be

04:43using it and keeping 800 million people wanting to use it every single week. But Hannah, when

04:48the power play comes back to the worker, you reported long and hard about the strikes that happened

04:53in Hollywood. What do you think the narrative is Bob Iger needs to give to his workforce?

04:58Yeah, he needs to give reassurance. I mean, people are worried about their jobs. Hollywood

05:02has been through a lot lately, you know, from the wildfires to layoffs at major entertainment

05:08companies. So I think there is a lot of concern here about replacement. If you're going to be

05:12able to use AI tools to animate, you know, why do you need humans behind it?

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended