Disney Imagineering deploys Adobe Firefly AI to accelerate theme park attraction design

Disney's Imagineers Are Using Adobe's Firefly AI to Dream Up Ride Designs

I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team. Attraction design at Disney's theme parks could be getting a lot faster under a new partnership between Walt Disney Imagineering and Adobe announced Tuesday. Imagineers will use Firefly AI -- an image and video creation and editing tool -- to speed up the concept and design of rides, Adobe says. Disney's Imagineers design, develop and test the technology behind rides and experiences at Disney Parks, on Disney Cruise Line and beyond. Adobe Firefly Foundry, the business AI version of Firefly, allows companies like Disney to create "tailored generative AI models that are unique to their brand," according to Adobe. The AI system draws on Imagineering designs and licensed and proprietary assets from Disney franchises. Imagineers will "soon" begin using the AI within the Adobe tools they already use, the companies said. This includes an image-generating model that creates "franchise-accurate" depictions of characters like Mickey Mouse, Moana, Lilo and Stitch, Elsa and Lightning McQueen; a sketch-to-image model that takes hand-drawn art and generates 2D concept art; and a 3D-modeling tool that takes those 2D renderings and turns them into 3D prototypes. "At Imagineering, we've always believed technology and human creativity can work together responsibly," said Kyle Laughlin, SVP of R&D, Technology and Engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering. "Our work with Adobe lets us bring Disney stories and characters to life in our Parks faster, and with the emotional quality our guests expect." Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether using this AI system would result in fewer Imagineering jobs. It follows Disney's platforming of an AI-driven animation tool last year, which helps generate character movements for cartoons, aiming to make the workflow less tedious while keeping animators in the driver's seat and speeding up sketch-to-TV-series time.

Disney tests controlled AI magic

Why it matters: The partnership shows Disney is willing to deploy generative AI when it can control how its intellectual property is used and protected. Driving the news: Disney says it will use Adobe Firefly Foundry, which combines Adobe's commercially safe AI models with Disney characters from franchises including Frozen, Moana, Lilo & Stitch and Cars. * A custom image model trained on those characters allows workers from the Imagineering unit to more quickly create concepts for future rides and attractions. * A sketch-to-image model turns rough hand-drawn ideas into fully rendered 2D concept art, while another tool converts concepts and renderings into 3D prototypes. The big picture: Disney is embracing generative AI on its own terms while going after AI companies it says use its characters without permission. * Disney announced a $1 billion deal with OpenAI that would have allowed consumers to use Disney characters within the Sora video engine, though that effort fell apart after OpenAI decided to scrap Sora. * Disney has been quick to take legal action against those it believes are infringing on its IP. Since last June, Disney has sued Midjourney and China's MiniMax, and sent Google a cease-and-desist letter over alleged AI-related copyright infringement. What they're saying: Kyle Laughlin, Walt Disney Imagineering's senior VP of R&D technology and engineering, tells Axios that his team is embarking on one of the most ambitious periods in its history and using generative AI to get its work in front of guests sooner. * Laughlin says Adobe's Foundry allows Disney to eliminate a lot of the "back and forth" and turn months of work into days of work. * Adobe VP Hannah Elsakr says companies can't afford not to adopt the technology amid growing consumer expectations for a steady flow of new and personalized content. "The only answer to this equation is AI, and I think every brand leader knows that," she said in an interview. What we're watching: Whether this use of generative AI convinces other parts of Disney to also incorporate the technology. Laughlin says it's being watched closely by other teams.

Disney is about to get AI-generated park sets

The custom AI is build on Firefly Foundry, Adobe's boutique AI service that trains on a brand's IP and catalog. For Imagineering, that meant ingesting decades of data, including artist drawings and every architectural diagram and piece of concept art they've ever created. "It's on people's laptops, it's underneath people's desks, it is in people's brains," Walt Disney Imagineering senior vice president of R&D technology and engineering Kyle Laughlin tells Fast Company. "It literally is in dozens of disparate systems that using artificial intelligence now we're able to unify for the very first time." Imagineering's bespoke AI model is based on billions of parameters capable of generating on-brand Disney assets. A sketch-to-image model turns hand-drawn concepts into 2D concept art, a custom image model generates franchise-accurate creative assets for characters like Mickey Mouse and Lilo and Stitch, and the 3D-modeling tool can turn 2D renderings into prototypes.