‘Wall-E With a Gun’: Midjourney Generates Videos of Disney Characters Amid Massive Copyright Lawsuit

Midjourney’s caller AI-generated video tool will nutrient animated clips featuring copyrighted characters from Disney and Universal, WIRED has found—including video of nan beloved Pixar characteristic Wall-E holding a gun.

It’s been a engaged period for Midjourney. This week, nan generative AI startup released its blase caller video tool, V1, which lets users make short animated clips from images they make aliases upload. The existent type of Midjourney’s AI video instrumentality requires an image arsenic a starting point; generating videos utilizing text-only prompts is not supported.

The merchandise of V1 comes connected nan heels of a very different benignant of announcement earlier successful June: Hollywood behemoths Disney and Universal revenge a blockbuster lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging that it violates copyright rule by generating images pinch nan studios’ intelligence property.

Midjourney did not instantly respond to requests for comment. Disney and Universal reiterated statements made by its executives astir nan lawsuit, including Disney’s ineligible caput Horacio Gutierrez alleging that Midjourney’s output amounts to “piracy.”

It appears that Midjourney whitethorn person attempted to put up immoderate video-specific guardrails for V1. In our testing, it blocked animations from prompts based connected Frozen’s Elsa, Boss Baby, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse, though it would still make images of these characters. When WIRED asked V1 to animate images of Elsa, an “AI moderator” blocked nan punctual from generating videos. “Al Moderation is cautious pinch realistic videos, particularly of people,” publication nan pop-up message.

These limitations, which look to beryllium guardrails, are incomplete. WIRED testing shows that V1 will make animated clips of a wide assortment of Universal and Disney characters, including Homer Simpson, Shrek, Minions, Deadpool, and Star Wars’ C-3PO and Darth Vader. For example, erstwhile asked for an image of Minions eating a banana, Midjourney generated 4 outputs pinch recognizable versions of nan cute, yellowish characters. Then, erstwhile WIRED clicked nan “Animate” fastener connected 1 of nan outputs, Midjourney generated a follow-up video pinch nan characters eating a banana—peel and all.

Although Midjourney seems to person blocked immoderate Disney- and Universal-related prompts for videos, WIRED could sometimes circumvent nan imaginable guardrails during tests by utilizing pronunciation variations aliases repeating nan prompt. Midjourney besides lets users supply a punctual to pass nan animation; utilizing that feature, WIRED was capable to to make clips of copyrighted characters behaving successful big ways, for illustration Wall-E brandishing a firearm and Yoda smoking a joint.

The Disney and Universal suit poses a awesome threat to Midjourney, which besides faces additional ineligible challenges from visual artists who allege copyright infringement arsenic well. Although it focused mostly connected providing examples from Midjourney’s image-generation tools, nan title alleges that video would “only heighten Midjourney expertise to administer infringing copies, reproductions, and derivatives of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works.”

The title includes dozens of alleged Midjourney images showing Universal and Disney characters. The group was initially produced arsenic portion of a study connected Midjourney’s alleged “visual plagiarism problem” from AI professional and cognitive intelligence Gary Marcus and ocular creator Reid Southen.

“Reid and I pointed retired this problem 18 months ago, and there's been very small advancement and very small change,” says Marcus. “We still person nan aforesaid business of unlicensed materials being used, and guardrails that activity a small spot but not very well. For each nan talk astir exponential advancement successful AI, what we're getting is amended graphics, not a fundamental-principle solution to this problem.”