Credit: Inside the MagicFor decades, Disney movies have forged a prestigious heritage, captivating audiences across multiple generations. The commitment of The Walt Disney Company to creativity, innovation, and heartfelt storytelling has embedded their movies within the tapestry of popular culture, ensuring their relevance for years to come.
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Since the groundbreaking debut of (Disney Princess origin point) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Disney has consistently delivered a remarkable array of cherished classics, including The Lion King (1994), Beauty and the Beast (1992), Frozen (2013), and even translated their theme park attractions into cinematic experiences, as seen in Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-present) — among numerous others. These cinematic achievements have not only delighted audiences across multiple eras but also pushed the boundaries of animation and storytelling techniques.
Disney’s impact has grown significantly, culminating in the creation of its dedicated streaming service, Disney+ (Disney Plus). The Walt Disney Company has cultivated a vast entertainment empire with all the franchises it has acquired, spanning from Pixar Animation Studios and its Toy Story series to Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and Star Wars sagas, Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Avengers, 20th Century Fox’s (now 20th Century Studios) X-Men universe, and even James Cameron’s immensely successful Avatar franchise.
That history of handcrafted excellence might just be at risk, however, as Hollywood studios have reportedly been meeting with artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT creator OpenAI to discuss the implementation of AI systems into major Hollywood productions.
Will Disney Start to Use AI?
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It’s almost certain that Disney would be one of the studios targeted, considering that the company is one of the biggest (and most powerful) media conglomerates in the industry.
The movie-making giant has also been historically keen on replacing actors and creatives with AI, even creating a task force in 2023 to implement the programs — in the name of cost-cutting.
A recent report from Bloomberg discusses the recent “courting” of Hollywood and studio execs by OpenAI, with sources revealing that meetings have been scheduled with major players in the entertainment industry in hopes that AI will be “integrated” into movies and television in the near future:
[OpenAI] has scheduled meetings in Los Angeles next week with Hollywood studios, media executives and talent agencies to form partnerships in the entertainment industry and encourage filmmakers to integrate its new AI video generator into their work.
The abovementioned “AI video generator” refers to OpenAI’s new visual generative video AI tech, Sora.
These scheduled meetings are merely the “latest round of outreach from OpenAI in recent weeks”, according to Bloomberg.
An OpenAI spokesperson commented on the company’s movie industry moves, stating:
OpenAI has a deliberate strategy of working in collaboration with industry through a process of iterative deployment – rolling out AI advances in phases – in order to ensure safe implementation and to give people an idea of what’s on the horizon. We look forward to an ongoing dialogue with artists and creatives.
Considering the House of Mouse and Disney CEO Bob Iger’s initial unwillingness to capitulate to writers’ and actors’ demands during the concurrent SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and WGA (Writers Guild of America) strikes last year, coupled with the blatant implementation of Black Mirror-esque body-scanning technology in a bid to replace actors in big-budget Marvel movies, the track record for The Walt Disney Company when it comes to AI (and cost-cutting measures) isn’t looking the squeakiest.
With those precedents in mind, the likelihood of Disney making some sort of deal with OpenAI is not out of the question. Should other major studios in Hollywood lead the way with significant deals, Disney might be keen to broker something sooner rather than later, seeing as reports of “superhero fatigue” towards their once-golden good Marvel Studios and lackluster Disney animation and lower live-action box office takings (see: 2022’s Strange World) have plagued the company in recent years.
Generative AI, the likes of ChatGPT, and new video technology like Sora, promise a tantalizingly quick turnaround time. Sure, it scrubs and replicates real artists’ past work, and cannot really produce anything “new” — but in the world of chasing exponential profits, all of that is fair game from the corporations’ point of view.
The darker future of artificial intelligence probably lies in the shortening of that turnaround — to inhuman (and inhumane) levels. So much so that the human consumers on the other end end up conditioned to accept mediocrity in a stagnating, fast-moving, (but profitable) entertainment industry.
After all, it is the cheaper alternative to paying real employee wages and providing fair compensation and recognition for real human beings.
Whether Disney will go ahead with AI implementation is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the VFX industry and directors of Hollywood will have something to say, next.
Do you think Disney will (or should) implement OpenAI programs into their movies? Share your thoughts in the comments below!