Midjourney demands Hollywood disclose AI usage details
▼ Summary
– AI startup Midjourney is trying to force Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to reveal how they use AI, as part of an ongoing copyright lawsuit.
– The studios sued Midjourney for allegedly training its image-generation models on copyrighted characters like Bart Simpson and Darth Vader.
– A judge ruled studios must provide information on their AI usage, but only for consumer-facing content, which Midjourney is now challenging.
– Midjourney argues the studios may be secretly doing what they are suing Midjourney for, such as training AI on unlicensed copyrighted content for internal use.
– The startup also demands the studios disclose all prompts and outputs from Midjourney, not just those that allegedly infringe copyright.
In an escalating legal battle with three major Hollywood studios, AI company Midjourney is pushing to force Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to disclose how they themselves use artificial intelligence. The dispute, which began with copyright infringement claims against the startup, is now centered on what internal AI practices the studios must reveal during the discovery phase of the lawsuit.
Disney and Universal first sued Midjourney last year, alleging that the company’s image-generation tools could produce unauthorized depictions of iconic characters like Bart Simpson and Darth Vader. Warner Bros. followed with its own lawsuit shortly after. Midjourney has defended its practices by arguing that training its AI models on copyrighted character imagery falls under fair use.
The current fight hinges on the scope of documentation the studios must hand over. A judge previously ruled that the studios only need to provide information about their generative AI usage when it results in “consumer-facing” videos or images. Midjourney is now challenging that restriction, claiming it “unfairly” permits the studios “to cherry-pick only those documents they believe support their market harm claims while depriving Midjourney of documents that would support its defenses.”
The startup goes further, asserting that the “documents [the studios] are withholding are precisely those that would reveal whether, behind closed doors, they are doing exactly what they are suing Midjourney for doing.” As an example, Midjourney argues that if the studios are developing image-generating AI for internal storyboarding or content ideation, that evidence would show it is an industry norm to train AI on unlicensed copyrighted material.
Additionally, Midjourney is demanding that the studios disclose all the prompts they used in the platform, along with the resulting outputs , not just the prompts that produced the allegedly infringing images. The studios’ lead attorney, David Singer, has dismissed this request as a “fishing expedition.” Singer has also emphasized that the studios “do not seek to stop AI technology or even shut down Midjourney’s business,” but instead “simply want Midjourney to stop copying their movies and TV shows and to stop distributing, publicly displaying, publicly performing, and creating derivative works that include copies of [their] famous characters without authorization.”
(Source: TechCrunch)
