- Disney has successfully pushed Google to block AI prompts generating its copyrighted characters.
- Google's AI tools like Gemini and Nano Banana now reject prompts referencing Disney-owned characters
- Disney accused Google of massive copyright infringement in a detailed 32-page cease-and-desist letter
Disney appears to have scored a major win in its efforts to curb unauthorised artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of its iconic characters, at least on Google's platforms. Following a cease-and-desist letter from Disney in December, Google's AI tools, including Gemini and Nano Banana, are now rejecting prompts that reference or attempt to generate Disney-owned characters, often displaying messages citing concerns from third-party content providers.
"I can't generate the image you requested right now due to concerns from third-party content providers. Please edit your prompt and try again," read the denial message when NDTV prompted Gemini to generate Disney characters.
In its letter, Disney accused Google of allowing its models to behave like an unlicensed "virtual vending machine" for intellectual property. Disney's outside attorney David Singer, wrote the 32-page letter detailing ways in which Google's AI tools were "infringing Disney's copyrights on a massive scale".
“Google is infringing Disney's copyrights on a massive scale, by copying a large corpus of Disney's copyrighted works without authorization to train and develop generative artificial intelligence (‘AI') models and services, and by using AI models and services to commercially exploit and distribute copies of its protected works to consumers in violation of Disney's copyrights," the letter stated.
In the letter, Disney showed proof of simple text prompts resulting in copyright-violating images of Disney characters like Darth Vader, Iron Man and Captain America, among others, being produced by Veo, Nano Banana, and Gemini.
Also Read | Google Offers Voluntary Exit Packages To Employees Not 'Embracing' AI
Stop Training Models
Disney demanded that Google immediately halt copyright infringement and stop training its models on the IP belonging to the company founded by Walt Disney.
"We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them," a Google spokesperson said at the time.
"More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content."
Though some social media users have already found loopholes to exploit the system, the decision highlights that AI tools may not have the same freedom that they have enjoyed in the last few years. Meanwhile, Disney recently signed a $1 billion licensing deal with OpenAI, authorising the use of its beloved characters within OpenAI's video generator Sora.
