Disney’s Deal With OpenAI Represents a Dangerous Mainstreaming of an Unregulated Technology
Agreement also raises concerns of displacement of writers, actors, and other professionals in favor of AI
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, OpenAI and Disney announced an agreement to license more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters to OpenAI’s Sora platform, a dramatic expansion of a technology that has already raised profound public-interest concerns.
Earlier this year, Public Citizen called for Sora to be removed from the market after documented instances of the model generating nonconsensual and harmful content.
J.B. Branch, Big Tech Accountability Advocate, Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:
“By allowing Sora-generated videos to circulate on social platforms and even stream on Disney+, Disney is helping mainstream an unregulated and dangerous technology that OpenAI and other corporations have repeatedly demonstrated they cannot control to prevent misuse and abuse.
“Although OpenAI and Disney promise this won’t occur, the OpenAI experience so far suggests we may soon witness proliferation of Disney characters doing things the company never anticipated, including expressing vulgarities, using hateful speech, or acting out fetishized scenarios
“And more is at stake here than the prospect of Mickey Mouse uttering profanities. With Hollywood opening the door to AI, there’s every reason to fear studios will progressively rely on AI to displace human writers, actors, directors, technicians and others, costing society not just jobs but the spark of human creativity and inspiration.”