Disney has sent a cease and desist letter to Google, accusing the tech giant of massive copyright infringement through its Gemini generative artificial intelligence (AI). Google is also accused of infringing on Disney's copyrights without permission to train the AI model.
Gemini's AI models, such as Nano Banana, can generate Disney characters from the Lion King, Star Wars and Marvel series with watermarks placed on the images produced. According to Disney, this gives the impression that it has received official approval from them.
According to Disney, the company has been raising its concerns with Google for months, but Google has not taken any action and it has only increased over that period. Google, in turn, said that they are using public data and have developed additional copyright controls such as Google-extended and Content ID.
The cease and desist letter was sent to Google after Disney just announced a 3-year partnership with OpenAI to allow their characters to be generated by Sora. Disney has also invested $1 billion in OpenAI and will use OpenAI's technology and expertise in developing their new products, including improving the user experience.
