Disney and OpenAI have revealed an unexpected collaboration, permitting ChatGPT users to create content featuring Disney’s beloved characters.

In the wake of this news, Variety disclosed that Disney issued a cease-and-desist letter to Google, threatening legal action regarding Google’s purported use of Disney’s intellectual property within its AI models. Disney accuses Google of extensive copyright violations, asserting that Google’s AI models commercially exploit and disseminate infringing media.

Reportedly, Disney has charged Google with infringing on properties like Star Wars, Frozen, The Lion King, Moana, The Little Mermaid, Deadpool, and The Guardians of the Galaxy. Additionally, Disney claims Google is encouraging users to engage in Generative AI trends, generating images of “action figures” showcasing characters owned by Disney. According to Variety, the cease-and-desist letter included images of figurines featuring Darth Vader, Deadpool, Homer Simpson, and Elsa from Frozen.

Disney’s maneuvers are noteworthy. In June, Disney initiated a lawsuit against AI image-making company Midjourney for using Disney’s IP in AI-generated content. At that point, Disney’s attorneys labeled Midjourney “a bottomless pit of plagiarism.”

Why did Disney collaborate with a single AI firm? By granting OpenAI an exclusive license for its characters, OpenAI can claim that Google and other AI companies are in violation of that license.

When OpenAI introduced its AI video platform Sora in October, it faced backlash for permitting users to generate video content featuring copyrighted characters from other brands. OpenAI later announced that any company could choose to opt out of Sora inclusion on a character-by-character basis.

Mashable’s evaluation of AI image and video generators found that most AI tools effortlessly create deepfakes featuring characters from Star Wars and Marvel.

Disney has insisted that Google “immediately stop further copying, publicly displaying, publicly performing, distributing, and producing derivative works of Disney’s copyrighted characters” within “outputs of Google’s AI Services, including YouTube’s mobile app, YouTube Shorts, and YouTube.”

Furthermore, Disney seeks for Google to establish safeguards to ensure that no future outputs infringe upon Disney’s works.

Essentially, Disney is alerting the AI industry.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the parent company of Mashable, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, alleging it violated Ziff Davis copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.