The Walt Disney Co.'s $1 cardinal equity investment in OpenAI will service arsenic "a mode in" to artificial intelligence, which volition person a important semipermanent interaction connected Disney's business, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC's "Squawk connected the Street" connected Thursday.
"We privation to enactment successful what Sam is creating, what his squad is creating," Iger said. "We deliberation this is simply a bully concern for the company."
Disney announced its concern successful OpenAI arsenic portion of an statement connected Thursday that volition alteration users to marque AI videos with its copyrighted characters connected the startup's app called Sora.
More than 200 characters, including Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader and Cinderella, volition beryllium disposable connected the level done a three-year licensing agreement, which Iger said would beryllium exclusive to OpenAI astatine the opening of the term.
As caller AI products person exploded into the mainstream, respective media companies, including Disney, person taken ineligible enactment successful an effort to safeguard their intelligence property.
Iger said Disney has been "aggressive" astatine protecting its IP, but helium has been "extremely impressed" with OpenAI's maturation arsenic good arsenic their willingness to licence content.
"No quality procreation has ever stood successful the mode of technological advance, and we don't mean to try," Iger said. "We've ever felt that if it's going to happen, including disruption of our existent concern models, past we should get connected board."
Shares of Disney are up much than 1% connected Thursday.
Barton Crockett, a elder net media probe analyst, told CNBC that Disney's concern is "a large endorsement for OpenAI."
He said it's important for companies similar Disney to recognize the value of user-generated and AI-generated content.
"I deliberation it's important for a content-creation company, similar Disney, to get up of that," helium said.
OpenAI launched Sora successful September, and the short-form video app allows radical to make contented by simply typing successful a prompt.
The app rapidly roseate to the apical of Apple's App Store, but arsenic users flooded the level with videos of fashionable brands and characters, ample media players began to rise concerns astir information and copyright infringement.
Iger said Disney's woody with OpenAI "does not successful immoderate mode correspond a menace to creators astatine all," successful portion due to the fact that characters' voices arsenic good arsenic endowment names and likenesses are not included.
"In fact, the opposite," Iger said. "I deliberation it honors them and respects them, successful portion due to the fact that there's a licence interest associated with it."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said determination volition beryllium guardrails successful spot astir however Disney's characters tin beryllium utilized connected Sora.
"It's precise important that we alteration Disney to acceptable and germinate those guardrails implicit time, but they volition of people beryllium successful there," Altman told CNBC connected Thursday.
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s afloat interrogation with Disney CEO Bob Iger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
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