The Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal Media LLC have partnered in a significant lawsuit against Midjourney Inc., an artificial intelligence image creator, labeling it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” Filed in a U.S. District Court in California, the complaint is groundbreaking, being the first legal action from Hollywood studios against an AI firm for unauthorized use of copyrighted content. Disney and Universal assert that Midjourney has generated unlicensed images of iconic characters like Darth Vader and Shrek without proper compensation. The lawsuit claims that Midjourney disregarded repeated requests to halt copyright infringement and emphasized that its video generator could further exploit Disney’s and Universal’s intellectual properties. With millions of subscribers and $300 million in revenue last year, Midjourney’s CEO previously argued that AI learning from existing art mirrors human creative processes. This ongoing case highlights growing tensions between traditional creators and emerging AI technologies.
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