YouTube Removed AI-Generated Disney Character Videos by Google After Copyright Complaint

In what appears to be a testy back-and-forth with the company that owns the franchise, Google has taken down Disney's AI-generated character videos from YouTube due to copyright infringement. The letter sent by Disney blamed Google for serious copyright infringement claiming that the tech giant had illegally used Disney content for training its AI models.

The removal included a great deal of videos with iconic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Deadpool, Star Wars figures, and many others. Already it is reported that the removal of a considerable number of these AI videos happened last week, indicating hardening of the conflict between AI tech and copyright owners.

What Disney’s Letter Said

Disney’s legal notice accused Google of doing "massive infringement of Disney’s rights on a colossal scale." Besides holding YouTube responsible for the video's availability, Disney also asserted that Google had used its assets for training AI models such as Nano Banana and Veo without authorization. Disney is very strict when it comes to the access of its intellectual property and this step marks its strong disagreement with the unauthorized use of its content. The firm has already served legal notices to other AI platforms including Midjourney, Hailuo, and Character. AI for similar violations.

It is rather surprising that Disney is not to go against the AI technology in general. Just a few days ago, the company made public a partnership with OpenAI that will allow access to ChatGPT and Sora for official Disney characters. The dispute arises, in general, when companies use Disney content without knowing and signifying the thin line between licensed and unlicensed AI-generated content.

The industry is moving along with developments in AI toward more forceful regulations and limitations. Governments are also advocating for the establishment of comprehensive rules which would guarantee the payment of creators whose works are used for AI training. This latest event raises the question of how Google is going to deal with these complications especially now that OpenAI has official access to Disney characters.

The ever-growing presence of AI content is raising the issue of copyright, ethics, and the question of who the creative owner is, and most likely Google will be taken as the next one to cut still.