Recently the internet has been plagued with a trend of A.I. generated film posters done in the style of a Disney/Pixar animated film. At first it seemed harmless enough with a few rather decent looking posters at first, but it eventually devolved into dark humor with references to real world tragedies.
The trend was created using Microsoft’s new A.I. image generator through their subsidiary Bing. Basically, anyone could make their own Disney Pixar-style film poster. Well, now it seems that Disney wasn’t very happy with this trend. Not only would they see this as harmful to their brand, but perhaps even as copyright infringement.
Now it appears that Disney has had a little talk with Microsoft as it is being reported that if attempting to create an image using the word “Disney,” users will see the prompt “the search terms used to guide the AI — was against its policies.”
Andrew White, a partner of the Mayhys & Squire law firm, had this to say on the issue:
“Reproduction of the Disney logo is clear trademark infringement. I would imagine that is why the AI might be jumbling the logo. In this instance, it is likely more for fun than trying to pass the images off for their own film or animation, but that would be a huge issue.”
“From a PR perspective, it is a fine line for Disney seeming to come down on something for fun that is ultimately raising its profile versus something that is actually anti-competitive.“
Shortly after the news of “Disney” being seemingly banned from the image generator broke, Microsoft, while not directly commenting on the matter, made the following statement:
“There is a current level of variability that may return different results from time to time as we continue to refine our safety systems. Additionally, artists, celebrities, and organizations can request to limit the creation of images associated with their names and brands.“
Disney of course, has not made any public comments regarding the situation.
What do you think? Is Disney going too far in requesting the takedown of these A.I. generated movie posters? Or are they justified in their actions? Let us know below.
Source: Financial Times
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