What just happened? Disney, it seems, is one company that isn't a fan of AI. The entertainment behemoth has sent a cease and desist letter to chatbot service Character.ai warning it to stop using famous Disney characters without permission. It comes as Disney continues its legal fight with image creator Midjourney over its creation and distribution of copyrighted characters.
Character.ai allows users to create personalized AI characters that they can converse with and publish for others to try. While some characters on the platform are original, a company spokesperson admitted that others are "inspired by existing characters that people love."
Disney didn't seem too swayed by the fact that people "love" these existing characters. It sent a cease and desist letter to Character.ai last week claiming the company has been using its copyrighted properties without authorization.
The letter adds that the AIs were apparently trained without authorization on Disney's copyrighted material, exploiting its copyrighted works and trademarks to present immersive versions of its characters.
"These actions mislead and confuse consumers, including vulnerable young people, to believe that they are interacting with Disney's characters, and to falsely believe that Disney has licensed these characters to, and endorsed their use by, Character.ai," said the letter from Disney attorneys, which was obtained by Deadline.
Disney named some of the infringing characters as being from its classic animated films, Pixar movies, Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and other properties.
The letter also claims that Character.ai "adds a sadistic and perverted twist to Disney's characters by using AI models that engage young people in inappropriate conversations about sex, self-harm, and deceit, and encouraging anti-social and dangerous behavior."
It appears that the AI company wasn't ready to take Disney on in a legal fight. Character.ai said it had now removed all the characters Disney objected to, adding that "we respond swiftly to requests to remove content that rightsholders report to us."
Disney and Universal are also suing AI image generator Midjourney over its alleged use and distribution of characters from the likes of Star Wars, The Simpsons, and other properties. The suit highlighted characters from Shrek, Ratatouille and The Lego Movie that look so similar to the films that it's assumed they were trained on the copyrighted work without permission.
Character.ai is no stranger to controversy. It was sued – along with Google – in October last year by the parents of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, who say their son killed himself after becoming obsessed with a bot based on Daenerys Targaryen. He texted "Dany" constantly and spent hours alone in his room talking to it.
A judge allowed the case to go ahead in May. An important ruling was made a month later when the judge said that the chatbot involved lacks First Amendment protections.
Character.ai was also named in an FTC complaint from a coalition consisting of digital rights and mental health groups in June. The complaint claimed that its therapy bots falsely assert that they are licensed therapists with training, education, and experience, and do so without adequate controls and disclosures.
Image credit: Taha