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Google has removed AI-generated videos featuring Disney characters from YouTube after receiving a cease-and-desist letter. The takedown of AI Disney videos highlights the growing clash between generative AI creators and traditional intellectual property laws.
The links were still working on Thursday, but now reroute to a message that reads, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Disney.”
Disney sent Google a cease and desist letter accusing the company of copyright violations. The videos used popular characters such as Deadpool, Moana, Mickey Mouse, and figures from the Star Wars universe.
The company’s letter accused Google of “infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale.” In the cease and desist letter, Disney provided a long list of characters it wants removed from YouTube and YouTube Shorts. These characters belong to famous shows like “Frozen,” “Moana,” “Toy Story,” “Deadpool,” “Iron Man,” “Lilo & Stitch,” and “Winnie the Pooh.”
The firm also claimed that Google used Disney-owned content to train its AI models, including Veo and Nano Banana, without permission.
In the same letter, Disney demanded not to use their characters to train its AI models and “implement safeguards to prevent its AI tools from generating Disney-owned characters.”
Google said it would work with Disney on the issue. “We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them,” the company said.
“More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content,” the statement added.
Disney is not against AI-generated content. It has announced a new partnership with OpenAI recently. According to this deal, Disney characters will officially appear in OpenAI’s tools, including Sora and ChatGPT.
This suggests that Disney is open to using AI technology when it is properly licensed and controlled.
Disney has also sent legal notices to Character.AI, Hailuo, and Midjourney. The company sued them over AI-related copyright infringement.
Also Read: AI Ethics Clash: Reddit Slaps Perplexity & Three Others with Lawsuit Over AI Data Theft Claims
Creating content that uses copyrighted characters without permission can lead to legal trouble. This takedown highlights growing pressure on tech companies to be more careful with copyrighted materials.
The clashes between innovation and copyright law are expected to intensify as generative AI tools become more powerful. This might just change the future rules of digital creativity at its core.
