By Mallory Mattingly
Universal Pictures has added a new legal warning to big tech companies that try to steal films to teach artificial intelligence.
Beginning with HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON in June, Universal Pictures will now attach a warning in the end credits saying that their titles “may not be used to train AI,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The warning continues: “This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.”
Other summer titles including JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH and THE BAD GUYS 2 also featured the language.
This new warning comes after Disney and Universal teamed up to sue AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement.
“Midjourney already has in place technological measures to prevent its distribution and public display of certain images and artwork such as violence or nudity,” the complaint reads. “And other AI image- and video-generating services have instituted copyright protection measures that recognize and protect the rights of content creators like Disney and Universal.”
The studios also call Midjourney a “virtual vending machine” and a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” which creates “endless unauthorized copies of Disney’s and Universal’s copyrighted works.”
Related: Universal Pictures Announces Live-Action Version of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
“We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity,” Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s senior executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer, told CNN in a statement regarding the lawsuit. “But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it’s done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.”
Charles Rivkin, the Motion Picture Association Chairman and CEO, also spoke about the lawsuit and called “strong copyright protection” policy the “backbone of our industry.”
“A balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centered innovation is critical for maintaining America’s global leadership in creative industries,” Rivkin added.
Midjourney did not respond to a comment, but in another lawsuit from 2023, the AI company said that any image AI creates “comprises an infinitesimal fragment of a model’s training, just as each visual (every face, sunset, painting) an artist has ever perceived and every text a writer has ever read comprises a tiny fraction of the content and imagery that inform their imagination.”
Thus, Midjourney argues that no copyright infringement took place.
While the use of AI in Hollywood is inevitable, it looks like studios aren’t ready to give it full access to their content yet.
Read Next: Why Artificial Intelligence Won’t Replace Filmmakers
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