The deal, which brings Disney’s intellectual property to OpenAI’s video generation platform Sora, is structured to balance “aggressive” intellectual property protection with a willingness to embrace inevitable technological disruption, Iger said. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Disney will license approximately 200 characters for use within Sora, allowing users to create short-form videos featuring iconic figures ranging from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars personalities.
Iger framed the partnership not as a concession to AI, but as a necessary evolution—and one that is actually good for human artists. This is because the deal does not include name and likeness, nor does it include character voices. “And so, in reality, this does not in any way represent a threat to the creators at all, in fact, the opposite. I think it honors them and respects them, in part because there’s a license fee associated with it.” Iger stressed repeatedly Disney wants to be on the cutting edge of how technology reinvents entertainment. “No human generation has ever stood in the way of technological advance, and we don’t intend to try.”
The deal includes undisclosed warrants, giving Disney a financial stake in OpenAI’s success. Iger confirmed the warrants and declined to offer more specifics. He compared this forward-thinking approach to Disney’s 2005 decision to license shows to iTunes, viewing the OpenAI partnership as the modern equivalent of boarding a “profound wave” of societal change.
Iger revealed the groundwork for this deal was laid several years ago, saying he had first met Altman in 2022, when he was retired from Disney, before his comeback as CEO. Altman gave Iger a “bit of a road map” about where OpenAI was headed, and Disney has been “extremely impressed” with OpenAI’s growth since then, with all of Altman’s predictions from 2022 coming true a lot faster than either party realized. Iger added Disney sees great opportunities to license other product from OpenAI in the years ahead, which he sees being a huge push in “essentially accomplish[ing] a lot of what we feel we need to accomplish in the years ahead.”
