Disney and Universal Are Suing AI Firm Midjourney Over Its ‘Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism’

If you’ve made any AI-generated images of beloved Disney or Universal characters like Iron Man or the Minions, you’re the reason the AI company Midjourney is getting sued by Disney and NBCUniversal.

The two entertainment mega corps are teaming up to pulverize Midjourney with a lawsuit for giving people the power to illegally make semi-convincing images of its precious intellectual property.

Filed in a California federal court, the suit actually goes pretty hard at Midjourney, accusing the AI image company of being a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” all while knowing exactly what it’s doing, calling its actions “calculated and willful.”

This move should come as no surprise, especially from Disney, a company with a long, illustrious history of suing into oblivion anyone who even mildly infringes on its IP. I’ll never forget how, back in 2005, Disney filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against some small shop owners for selling counterfeit piñatas shaped like Disney characters.

And that was for selling misshapen piñatas intended to be beaten with sticks. An AI that can spit out a nearly photo-real image of Deadpool romantically embracing Marty McFly was inevitably going to feel Disney’s wrath.

Disney and Universal Have Had Enough of the AI Rip-Offs

The complaint claims that Midjourney lets users summon high-quality images of protected characters like Shrek or Spider-Man just by typing in a few words, which is undeniably true. For Disney and Universal, that’s not a clever hack; it’s digital piracy, and as the suit claims, “piracy is piracy.”

This is the first time heavyweight Hollywood studios have gone so hard at a generative AI company. It’s also the loudest warning yet in the copyright battle that’s been building behind the scenes and quietly in courtrooms ever since AI tools started making images that could somewhat convincingly be passed off as official.

NBCUniversal echoed the mouse’s sentiment, taking a stand alongside the hardworking artists, writers, and animators whose work gets swallowed up and mimicked in seconds without a dime in return. The lawsuit cites several images created by Midjourney, including ones featuring characters from Toy Story, Shrek, The Simpsons, Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and several others.

The AI industry is still in the midst of its boom, or possibly at the beginning of its recession, depending on who you ask. Now comes a slug to the face from two corporate media giants, one of whom is famously litigious and protective of its characters, but mostly of the money they generate. The lawsuit will probably stretch on for a long time, and several dozen lawyers are going to be able to put their kid’s kids through college with the money they make from all this, so buckle in and prepare for a slow, multi-year-long trickle of courtroom drama that will surely be hilarious.