“Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism”: Disney, Universal Target Midjourney in Landmark AI Lawsuit

• Disney and Universal have jointly sued AI startup Midjourney.
• They allege it generates unauthorized images of copyrighted characters from major franchises.
• The studios claim Midjourney earned $300 million in 2023 by distributing infringing content.

The legal battle over artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright has reached a new high. Entertainment giants Disney and Universal have filed a joint lawsuit against AI startup Midjourney, alleging its popular image generator unlawfully replicates and profits from their most iconic copyrighted characters.

The lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles federal court. It accuses Midjourney of generating and distributing countless unauthorized images based on Disney and Universal’s intellectual property. These include depictions of Darth Vader, Yoda, and Elsa from Frozen, Marvel superheroes like Iron Man and the Hulk, Universal’s Minions, and characters from Kung Fu Panda and Shrek.

The studios claim Midjourney’s AI platform builds these images using user prompts, with no safeguards to prevent infringement. Despite requests to halt the practice, Midjourney allegedly released updates producing higher-quality copies.

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