News Summary

Hollywood giants Disney and NBCUniversal have filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against AI image-synthesis company Midjourney, accusing it of copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles, marks the first major legal action by Hollywood studios against a generative AI company. Midjourney, based in San Francisco, offers a subscription service that allows users to create images from written prompts. The studios allege that Midjourney’s AI model was trained using copyrighted artworks without permission, enabling users to generate images of popular characters such as Darth Vader, Shrek, and Yoda. Disney and Universal argue that this practice constitutes piracy, as it involves unauthorized use of copyrighted content. The lawsuit could potentially reshape AI copyright law as it challenges the current practices of AI companies in handling copyrighted material.