Disney and Universal Studios have filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Midjourney, alleging copyright violations of their intellectual property.
The movie studios claim Midjourney, a popular subscriber-based interface that generates AI images from text prompts, has trained its AI models on their intellectual property and creates images featuring their famous characters.
For example, according to the lawsuit, if a Midjourney subscriber submits a simple text prompt requesting an image of the character Darth Vader in a particular setting or doing a particular action, Midjourney generates a high-quality, downloadable image featuring Disney’s copyrighted Darth Vader character.
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Another example provided in the lawsuit includes a generated image from Midjourney of Universal's Minions and Shrek characters.
According to the lawsuit, Midjourney has ignored requests to block users from generating images with Disney and Universal's intellectual property or to add technology that would prevent it.
The studios are seeking up to $20 million in damages and an order that would stop Midjourney from generating the images in the future.
This marks the first time major Hollywood studios have sued an AI company.
"Midjourney’s bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S copyright law are not only an attack on Disney, Universal, and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy," the lawsuit stated.
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Midjourney has not publicly commented on the case.
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