Walt Disney Company is rolling out AI-powered tools across its business divisions, a strategic reversal from its previous adversarial stance toward the technology. The shift accelerates under new CEO Josh D'Amaro, who has made artificial intelligence a priority since taking the helm this year.
This December, Disney+ will premiere Ozzy Fox, a children's animated series created using AI technology developed by French startup Animaj. The show's production pipeline relies on Animaj's platform, which converts artist sketches and written prompts into three-dimensional animation sequences. The series debuted on YouTube in July, where some online commentators dismissed it as "AI slop".
The company's embrace of AI represents a notable departure from its earlier litigation against artificial intelligence firms over unauthorized use of its intellectual property. Bloomberg first reported on Disney's expanded AI deployment across multiple operational areas.
Expanding AI across the enterprise
Beyond animation, Disney is integrating AI into several business functions. The company has developed an AI system designed to streamline financial reporting and budget analysis. Additionally, Disney is piloting AI-driven personalization features for Disney+ subscribers in select US markets to improve content recommendations.
The company has also filed patents describing AI-powered character interactions for theme park guests and acoustic monitoring systems that could detect maintenance needs on rides before failures occur.
D'Amaro commented on the company's technological direction at a corporate event this month, stating: "We're being very aggressive about exploring emerging technologies."
Leadership and investment moves
In September, Disney appointed Karandeep Anand, formerly chief executive of Character.AI, to serve as the company's inaugural Chief Technology Officer. The company subsequently submitted a $20 million bid for select assets from Character.AI following the chatbot startup's bankruptcy filing. These assets could eventually enable Disney+ users to engage in conversations with Disney characters.
The timing of D'Amaro's appointment proved significant: within a week of his arrival, OpenAI discontinued its Sora video generation application, which had been part of a licensing arrangement under negotiation between OpenAI and Disney involving the studio's character portfolio.
Protecting intellectual property
Despite its aggressive AI expansion, Disney maintains stringent protections around its character assets. Rather than licensing its characters to external AI companies, Disney has negotiated an agreement with Adobe that permits the software company to train AI models using Disney's characters, but only under Disney's direct oversight and control.
Source: The Next Web
