- Thursday, December 11, 2025

Don’t miss the full story, whose reporting from Kelvin Chan at The Associated Press is the basis of this AI-assisted article.

​Disney announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI and a three-year licensing deal to bring its iconic characters to the Sora video generation platform, while simultaneously sending Google a cease and desist letter over alleged copyright infringement of Disney content used to train AI models.

Some key facts:



• Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI as part of a strategic partnership.

• The Walt Disney Co. becomes the first major content licensing partner for OpenAI’s Sora video generation tool.

• The three-year licensing agreement includes more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars franchises.

• Fans will be able to use Sora to generate and share videos featuring characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and Luke Skywalker.

• Select user-generated Sora videos will be made available on the Disney+ streaming service.

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• Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its technology to build new products and rolling out ChatGPT for employees.

• Disney sent Google a cease and desist letter on Dec. 10, accusing the tech company of copyright infringement on a massive scale.

• Disney claims Google used its content without permission to train AI models, including Veo video generator and Imagen and Nano Banana image generators.

READ MORE: Disney invests $1B in OpenAI in deal to bring characters like Mickey Mouse to Sora AI video tool

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