WGA Speaks Out About New Disney and OpenAI Partnership

The statement notes previous unauthorized use for AI training.

Disney’s historic new deal with OpenAI is raising concerns with the Writers Guild of America for its potential use of union member’s work.

What’s Happening:

Variety is reporting that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is raising concerns that Disney’s new licensing deal with OpenAI legitimizes the alleged theft of writers’ work by AI companies.
The union will meet with Disney to review the agreement and its use of writer-created material in user-generated videos.
The three-year deal lets OpenAI’s Sora generate videos with 200+ Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars characters starting in 2026, with Disney investing $1 billion in OpenAI.
WGA argues AI companies trained on studio-owned, writer-created movies and television series without permission and is urging major studios to defend their IP.
Disney says the deal excludes talent likenesses and voices and prohibits training on Disney IP; which OpenAI calls it a model for responsible AI.
WGA praised Disney’s cease-and-desist letter accusing Google of large-scale copyright infringement.
SAG-AFTRA will monitor the deal to ensure protection of performers’ likeness, voice, and IP rights and says both Disney and OpenAI have engaged with the union.
SAG-AFTRA also backed Disney’s objections to Google, saying AI providers must stop mass infringement and strengthen guardrails.

What They’re Saying:

Statement from WGA: “Disney’s announcement with OpenAI appears to sanction its theft of our work and cedes the value of what we create to a tech company that has built its business off our backs.” WGA will meet with Disney “to probe the terms of this deal, including the extent to which user-generated videos use the work of WGA members. We will continue to fight to protect our members’ creative and economic interests in the context of AI technology.”

More on the Cease-and-Desist:

Disney sent Google a cease and desist letter demanding the company stop using and generating Disney media, claiming the tech company copied large amounts of Disney’s copyrighted works without permission and that Google’s AI reproduces Disney characters at scale.
Disney claims some infringing AI generated images have appeared with the Google Gemini logo.
Characters allegedly used include fan-favorites from Frozen, The Lion King, Moana, The Little Mermaid, Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, The Simpsons, and more.

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