The issue of AI using humans’ work without permission is getting more heated: Disney and NBCUniversal are suing Midjourney for copyright infringement.
According to Axios, it’s the first legal action taken by major Hollywood studios against a generative AI company. The complaint, filed in California, accuses Midjourney of direct and secondary copyright infringement by using the studios’ IPs to train their LLM.
The document offers many examples of “stolen” characters from The Lion King, Aladdin, Minions, and other movies. Disney and NBCUniversal say that they tried to talk to Midjourney before the lawsuit, but it did not take the issue seriously.
Midjourney “continued to release new versions of its Image Service, which, according to Midjourney’s founder and CEO, have even higher quality infringing images,” the complaint says. Midjourney “is focused on its own bottom line and ignored Plaintiffs’ demands.”
