The entertainment industry is still reeling from the Hollywood strikes, protests fuelled by the fear of artificial intelligence erasing jobs and cheapening creative output. Now, just as the dust settles, the greatest champion of intellectual property in the world has made a stunning, £1 billion commitment that confirms the worst anxieties of its own staff.
The Walt Disney Company—the legendary 'House of Mouse' built over a century on the genius of human illustrators, storytellers, and visual artists—has invested $1 billion in OpenAI, the company behind the video generator Sora. The move, framed as an embrace of innovation by CEO Bob Iger, is a three-year agreement to license Disney's crown jewels to the AI firm.
