Overview
- CEO Bob Iger said the three-year license grants OpenAI a single year of exclusivity, after which Disney can strike similar deals with other AI firms.
- Sora and ChatGPT Images are slated to let users generate short videos and images with more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters starting in early 2026, with curated Sora clips eligible for Disney+.
- Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI and use its APIs across operations, while reports indicate the character license is compensated largely through stock warrants rather than upfront cash.
- The license covers characters but excludes performer likenesses and voices, with both companies pledging robust safeguards even as Disney-style Sora content online has already prompted safety concerns.
- On the day of the announcement Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist over alleged copyright use, and internally the company is rolling out DisneyGPT with a more agentic 'Jarvis' tool in development.