NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Disney and Universal sued popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have taken legal action against a maker of generative AI technology that could upend the entertainment industry.
The copyright lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 鈥渆ndless unauthorized copies鈥� of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise and the Minions from 鈥淒espicable Me.鈥�
鈥淢idjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint.
The studios also say the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation.
Midjourney didn鈥檛 respond to a request for comment but its CEO David Holz addressed the lawsuit in a weekly conference call with users Wednesday after someone asked if it would endanger the tiny startup's future.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn鈥檛 cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time,鈥� Holz said. "I think everybody wants us to be around.鈥�
In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Holz described his image-making service as 鈥渒ind of like a search engine鈥� pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity.
鈥淐an a person look at somebody else鈥檚 picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?鈥� Holz said. 鈥淥bviously, it鈥檚 allowed for people and if it wasn鈥檛, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it鈥檚 sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it鈥檚 fine.鈥�
The lawsuit against Midjourney comes as a number other AI companies have sought to and the , providing AI tools that can aid filmmakers and game developers in generating new video, synthetic voices and editing help.
A movie industry group, the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement Wednesday that 鈥渟trong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry鈥� and it supports a 鈥渂alanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centered innovation.鈥�
Endorsing the lawsuit Wednesday as a 鈥渃ritical stand for human creativity and responsible innovation鈥� was the Recording Industry Association of America, a music publishing group fighting its own legal battles against companies that make AI-generated music.
Major AI developers don鈥檛 typically disclose their data sources but taking troves of publicly accessible online text, and to is protected by the 鈥渇air use鈥� doctrine of American copyright law. At the same time, many big tech companies are increasingly looking to make licensing deals to pay for the content their AI systems need.
The studios鈥� case joins a filed against developers of AI platforms in San Francisco and New York.
Meanwhile, the of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against Stability AI, maker of an image-generating tool that competes with Midjourney.
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O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
Shawn Chen And Matt O'brien, The Associated Press
