Disney’s AI Move Will Rewrite Hollywood

Disney opens its vault to artificial intelligence Disney's taking a major step into generative technology with a 1 billion dollar investment in OpenAI and a 3 year deal allowing Sora users to generate short videos using more than 200 characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. Reporting from the New York Times notes that select fan created clips may even appear on Disney Plus. CEO Bob Iger said the partnership quote marks an important moment for our history and will be handled thoughtfully and responsibly. Animators warn this could sideline creators. As one Animation Guild board member puts it, the artist who created these characters won't see a dime. The deal highlights a growing concern. If endless AI variations of old characters keep audiences satisfied, studios may invest even less in new storytelling. What's the bottom line here? What's the real message? I'm so used to Disney going after a small non profit kindergarten for having Mickey Mouse on the wall. They were so protective of their AI, of their intellectual property and now they're giving it for a chunk of the of the company. They're giving it to artificial intelligence, to OpenAI. This is a head scratcher and it's got to be scary times if you're an animator or any creator. Let's dig a little deeper here. Again, the facts are Disney's invested $1 billion into OpenAI. I tell you, Sam Altman might not the founder and CEO, co founder and current CEO of OpenAI. He might not be the most brilliant technologist in the world, but wow, is he good at deal making. He is one of the best fundraisers in the history of the world. There's no doubt about it. This guy can talk anybody into anything. I mean, I hope if anybody sees him approaching me, tackle me, put a bag over my head and cart me away. Because this guy could talk anyone, including me into giving him every penny they have. Apparently he's really good at it. Now Sora users will gain access to 200 + Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star wars characters with this deal. It's a three year licensing deal with an exclusive first year. It's going to allow short 30 second AI videos, select fan videos, something that you might create. That I might create. Well, I'm not creative when it comes to Disney Cruise. I'm not going to do again. You could have your content streamed on Disney+ now they claim it's not going to use any actors, likenesses or voices included. Although you look at the history of OpenAI, just ask Scarlett Johansson how well those promises are kept. Now the rules ban drugs, you can't show Mickey Mouse shooting up heroin or anything like that. No sex, no alcohol or cross company IP mixing. Other things to keep in mind, Disney has sued Midjourney for alleged character copying. In the past, Disney sent Google a cease and desist over AI training data. So this is a big deal, I think. Here's, I think what is keeping content creators, cartoonist creatives who work at Disney up at night? They're thinking, oh, if they just put all of the library into OpenAI, what if that's so lucrative that Disney could essentially fire every employee and just cash checks? I mean that has to be something. Whether that's realistic, I don't know. But that has to be something that is keeping folks awake at night. Here's According to the head of Animation Guild, Roma Murphy, the artist who created these characters won't see a dime. Is that same standard going to be applied to these videos? What will the psychological be for kids who watch now? Here's what the the head of Disney said Bob Iger the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry and through this collaboration with OpenAI, we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling. Let me translate that folks. Bob Iger is saying we're scared out of our mind. All of us are scared of this open AI thing. We're all afraid it's going to leave us in the dust. We, we're afraid we're going to become irrelevant, fired, our stock price is going to go to zero. So we're, we're latching onto this thing. We want some little piece of this rocket OpenAI before it just takes off and leaves us all in the dirt. That's really what he's saying. It may be a smart strategy, I don't know. But if you are a cartoonist, I think the message is create your own cartoons. Start posting on TikTok as I do every day on YouTube, as I do every day on Facebook, as I do every day. Ideally, you'll be more entertaining to kids than I am because I do not have a huge viewership among 60 year olds looking for entertainment. So I think that's got to be the real lesson for cartoonists, for creators, for people who want to do entertainment. The idea that the Disney's of the world are going to continue to cut your checks when they can just hand over old intellectual property to a company like AI and cash checks, I think that's fanciful to say the least. Okay, let's look at some other facts. AI variations, lower development, core tests, development Cost for content, well, no kidding, it reduces it to zero if all you got to do is hand over to AI Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters where you're not doing any additional work. This introduces quality control risk for the Disney brand because now since they are taking a billion dollar ownership stake and open. A funny thing about these big billion dollar high tech companies, you give them a billion dollars, suddenly you have their phone number. If you and I have any kind of problem with Facebook or YouTube, they, I don't know, let's say delete your channel in the middle of the night, which has happened to me, happened to me to my Instagram channel just a few weeks ago. It's gone. If you and I have a problem with a big high tech company, tough luck. You have about as good a chance of getting somebody on the phone as you do of finding buried treasure in the Atlantic Ocean. In theory, it could happen. Gonna happen. So Disney is smart at that level. They have at least for a billion dollars. I'm pretty sure you might not even get Sam Altman's PH for a billion dollars these days since his company is now valued at almost half a trillion. But you're going to get somebody's phone number. If there's a problem, if all of a sudden, you know, Mickey Mouse is doing inappropriate things with Minnie Mouse that children shouldn't be seeing, there's at least going to be someone to call you. And I don't have that connection with any big tech company, unfortunately. So I do think this is significant. The significance for you and for me is we've got to essentially do the same thing. We have to figure out how to use artificial intelligence, latch onto it so that we don't become irrelevant. I know some of you have seen my own ads, sorry if that becomes tedious, but I do promote my own ads because I have an AI video clone. I don't want to be left in the dust. So I have an AI clone. Fact, I'll run an ad in just a moment where I tell you, call TJ the AI clone the video clone and coach you, train you, rehearse you. A lot less expensive than if you want to hire me because it's free. At least the first few times you go there. I think we all have to figure out how to not come up with a whole video clone for yourself. At least a chatbot to automate your own expertise. The other thing is, anyone who has career aspiration of being a creator, of being a media creator, don't look to the Disney's of the world. If they give you some sweetheart deal, cash the check, I would certainly cash their check. But if your whole career aspiration plan is about work hard, do good work, create a portfolio, and hope someone at Disney hires you, put you on salary, I gotta tell you about a billion dollars worth of salary money just went into Sam Altman's pocket. So you got to come up with plan B. Plan B is you got to create your own media company. Now, that's what I'm doing. And I certainly don't mean to be so hubristic is to say everyone has to be like me. It's worked out for me in part because I was able to withstand the pain of losing money for 15 years when I started my own online content creation company for online training way back in 1998. It paid off, certainly in the last decade. But not everyone can afford to lose money for 15 years. And I don't know if that means you've got to wait tables or be a barista while you're hoping your first cartoon goes viral. I don't know. But the old plan of just do good work, have a nice portfolio, and hope Disney gives you a salary not looking good at all.