Disney Plus Plans AI-Generated Content Features as Part of Major Platform Overhaul

Disney Sees Potential in AI for Disney Plus Games and Short-Form Content

Though Kourtnee hasn't won any journalism awards yet, she's been a Netflix streaming subscriber since 2012 and knows the magic of its hidden codes. Disney has commenced the process for fully integrating Hulu into the Disney Plus streaming app, and while that's underway, CEO Bob Iger sees potential in artificial intelligence use on the platform. During the Walt Disney Company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday, he discussed how the unified app can serve as a "portal" for all of Disney's offerings by leveraging AI technology. "There's clearly an opportunity for commerce. There's an opportunity to use it as an engagement engine for people who want to go to our theme parks, want to stay in our hotels, who want to enjoy our cruises, our cruise ships," said Iger. "And obviously, there's a huge opportunity for games." Pointing to the company's partnership with Epic Games, Iger noted that while many of their collaborative projects will live on Epic Games' platform, the deal between the two companies "gives us an opportunity to integrate a number of game-like features into Disney Plus." Such a move would put the streamer on a path similar to Netflix, which already offers mobile gaming and is set to roll out video games on TVs. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. Iger shared that Disney has been having "productive" conversations with AI companies in the interest of boosting customer engagement while protecting its intellectual property. That includes AI tools that enhance the subscriber experience on its streaming platform. Additionally, the CEO discussed how Disney will use AI on the streaming service for the benefit of fans. "The other thing that we're really excited about -- that AI is going to give us the ability to do -- is to provide users of Disney Plus with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content, mostly short form from others." Does this mean TikTok-style videos are coming to the platform, or features like Netflix's Moments? Subscribers will have to wait and see, but Disney is optimistic about the strides it's making with AI tech.

The future of Disney Plus could involve AI-generated videos

Disney's plans for the future of its streaming service may involve AI-generated videos. During an earnings call on Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company is "really excited about AI," adding that the technology could allow Disney Plus to provide viewers with the ability to "create" and "consume" short-form AI videos. "There's phenomenal opportunities to deploy AI across our direct-to-consumer platforms, both to provide tools that make the platforms more dynamic and more sticky with consumers, but also to give consumers the opportunity to create on our platforms," Iger added. He didn't elaborate on how this might actually work, but I'm just hoping that I don't open Disney Plus one day and see a Sora-like stream of AI-generated clips. Disney reported adding 1.5 million subscribers in the US and Canada during the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing its total in North America to 59.3 million. It increased prices across its plans last month. Along with the potential for AI-powered video creation tools, Iger hinted at other ways Disney could expand its streaming app beyond just TV shows and movies. He said the company could integrate "game-like features" into Disney Plus through its partnership with Epic Games. Netflix has already made a big push into gaming, though it has since pulled some of the best indie games from its library and shut down the studio behind its Squid Game: Unleashed mobile game. Iger also mentioned Disney Plus having a "opportunity for commerce," allowing it to serve as an "engagement engine" for people looking to visit Disney's parks, stay at its hotels, or go on its cruises.

Disney+ may start hosting user-generated AI videos

During Disney's latest earnings call, CEO Bob Iger spoke about next steps for the Disney+ streaming service, and he noted that the entertainment giant has had "productive conversations" with potential AI partners. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ might soon play host to user-generated short-form AI videos. "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others," Iger said. He didn't specify which companies Disney has been in talks with or offer any particularly timeline for the arrival of gen-AI features. There are already a bunch of ways for people to make and share AI slop videos, so this isn't a new concept he's touting. But it is a surprising direction for Disney, which has long been hawkish about protecting both its image and its IP. The company has already made legal moves against multiple different AI platforms, including a cease and desist sent to Character.AI and copyright infringement lawsuits against Midjourney and Hailuo. Iger said he hoped any partnership would "reflect our need to protect the IP," and it would almost certainly be a lucrative deal for Disney. But even within the confines of its own platform, this is still quite an about-face for the company to now encourage gen-AI creations of familiar characters.

Disney Is Getting in on AI Slop

During an earnings call with shareholders today, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company's streaming platform, Disney+, is preparing to expand with new elementsâ€"including ways for subscribers to share and create Disney-themed content with generative AI. "The other thing that we’re really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience," Iger told shareholders (via the Hollywood Reporter), "including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated contentâ€"mostly short-formâ€"from others." According to the CEO, Disney+ will also soon include new gamified experiences as part of the studio's partnership with Epic Games, which so far has mostly existed as a series of Disney collaborations for Fortnite, including seasons based on Star Wars and The Simpsons. The Star Wars season of Fortnite infamously introduced an AI-voiced Darth Vader companion, who had to be promptly updated when players immediately started getting the generated voice of the late James Earl Jones to use slurs. Iger described the additions as "the biggest and the most significant changesâ€"from a product perspective, from a technology perspectiveâ€"since we launched the service in 2019." Externally, Disney, like other Hollywood studios, has been openly bullish about the rise of generative AI, joining lawsuits alongside other studios such as Universal and Warner Bros. to sue AI companies like Midjourney and MiniMax, arguing that their generative AI platforms are infringing on their copyrighted works by allowing users to create images of popular characters. But internally, beyond this new development, we've known for a while that Disney has been exploring the use of generative AI in its productions. A report from the Wall Street Journal in August this year alleged that Disney executives had attempted to pitch the use of generative AI systems on two of its projects, the live-action Moana remake and the then-upcoming Tron: Ares, only to find that the technology's use was stymied and ultimately dropped from both films out of a combination of concerns about Disney's copyrights and potential public backlash. Disney seems to have started trying to figure out its concerns about the former. In today's call, Iger said that the studio had had "productive conversations" with AI companies (which ones, exactly, Iger did not disclose) before noting he was hopeful those conversations could result in a deal that would "reflect our need to protect the IP." What Disney has yet to figure out is the latter concern of the public. Disney subsidiary Marvel Studios has already found itself facing blowback to the use of generative AI technology in the past, first in 2023, when the studio was lambasted for the opening credits of the Samuel Jackson MCU vehicle Secret Invasion, which were created with AI imagery. Earlier this year, Marvel had to defend itself from backlash alleging that a series of posters for The Fantastic Four: First Steps featured signs indicating the use of generative AI. The move to test that public reaction comes at a time when Disney has found public confidence in the studio damagedâ€"in part due to liberal concerns over the company's ongoing capitulations to the second Trump administration, and more pointedly recently when the studio faced a series of public boycotts over its decision to temporarily suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over commentary he made on the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Will the ability to make uncanny short videos of Grogu and Spider-Man be enough? Disney seemingly intends to find out.

Disney+ is getting the worst feature imaginable

Disney+ will allow its users to create and consume AI-generated content on the platform. This is according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, speaking on the company's fourth quarter earnings call. Iger was asked about the future of Disney+ and how the service will integrate with other parts of the business, like the theme parks. In response, he said that Disney is "in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes from a product perspective and from a technology perspective since we launched the service in 2019." Part of that comes from the integration of the Hulu brand into Disney+, with a unified streaming app due to launch in the US next year. Internationally, the Star brand on Disney+ has already been replaced by Hulu. Iger also spoke about the "opportunity to integrate a number of game-like features into Disney+". That will mostly stem from the $1.5 billion Disney invested for an equity stake in Epic Games in 2024. Epic is the developer behind the hugely popular Fortnite, a game that is currently running a fun Simpsons-themed event following previous collaborations with other Disney brands like Star Wars. Both of these things make sense. A single streaming app is more convenient, and pushing into gaming allows Disney+ to compete with Netflix's surprisingly good game library. What makes less sense, however, is AI-generated content. "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content, mostly short-form, from others," said Iger. While no specifics were given on how this would function, on the surface it sounds awful. I subscribe to streaming services like Disney+ because I want to see art created by humans -- to be immersed in worlds and stories that move me. I don't want to see Mickey Mouse performing the latest TikTok dance, or whatever a generative AI tool would churn out based on a prompt, and I have no interest in generating videos myself. Presumably user-generated content in Disney+ would have strict guardrails to protect the brands and the users; Snow White swearing or being violent wouldn't go down well. It also raises questions about what protections would be in place for the humans involved in the creation of the original work. It's understandable that Disney doesn't want to be left behind in the generative AI boom, though it has had a difficult relationship with the technology so far because Disney is notoriously protective over its intellectual property. Earlier this year, the company teamed with Universal to sue Midjourney, claiming that the firm's image generator was plagiarizing its characters. Later in the earnings call, Iger said that Disney had "productive conversations" with some AI companies about protecting the value of Disney's intellectual property while using their technology to "create more engagement with consumers." Personally, I'm not hopeful. Disney+ already has great shows and movies. I want my subscription fee invested into more of this, not user-generated AI content. Disney+ Subscription with ads Yes, the Disney Basic plan Price Starting at $10/month Family favorites, old classics, and exciting new TV all in one place. Visit Disney+ Expand Collapse

Disney eyes a future where users help shape the story

In an earnings call on Nov. 13, Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted at working with AI companies to create user-generated content on Disney+ to increase engagement with subscribers. Charley Gallay/Getty Images North America hide caption Fans tired of waiting for the next Frozen sequel or the next chapter in the Star Wars saga may soon have new ways to engage with those worlds -- by creating their own content using Disney's IP. That was the tantalizing hint Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped during an earnings call Thursday, as he described how the company is exploring ways to make the Disney+ subscription-based streaming service more interactive, and customizable for users. While Iger stopped short of making any formal announcements, he suggested Disney is in discussions with artificial intelligence companies about tools that could allow subscribers to generate and share their own content built from Disney-owned stories. "AI is going to give us the ability to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content," Iger said. Disney+ declined to offer additional details about what form these new creative tools might take or which tech companies were involved in the negotiations. Meanwhile, AI remains a concern in many parts of the entertainment industry, with many companies including Disney engaged in lawsuits against AI players for copyright infringement. Iger acknowledged this tension. On the earnings call, the CEO said the company's conversations with potential AI partners are focused on enabling new forms of fan engagement and guarding against uses that could dilute or misuse Disney IP. "It's obviously imperative for us to protect our IP with this new technology," Iger said. Disney isn't alone in trying to rethink the boundaries between audiences and the entertainment they consume. At the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Netflix's chief technology officer, Elizabeth Stone, offered her own look at a future shaped by deeper user engagement. "The future of entertainment is likely to be even more personalized, even more interactive, even more immersive," Stone said during an on-stage conversation with TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos. In addition to games and social media videos, one of Netflix's most talked-about experiments in this direction arrives next year: Stone said viewers of the classic talent competition Star Search reboot will be able to cast votes directly from their TVs or phones, influencing which contestants advance - or do not. This engagement layer sits on top of Netflix's vast library of films and TV series. But platform leaders increasingly see passive watching as only part of the picture. Younger audiences, especially Gen Z, are gravitating toward spaces where they can participate, remix and respond rather than simply watch. According to Deloitte's 2025 Digital Media Trends survey, more than half of Gen Z respondents say social media content feels more relevant to them than traditional TV shows and movies. The research also points to the growing popularity of indie creators, and a change in consumer expectations around quality: Content doesn't always have to be polished to be extremely popular, as some of the most-watched feeds on YouTube and TikTok prove. At the same time, despite ongoing litigation, entertainment corporations are starting to get comfortable with the idea of licensing content to AI companies. One of the most high-profile in recent weeks is the licensing partnership between Universal Music Group and the AI music creation platform Udio. "It shows that the AI companies can work with the creative community to come up with models that work for both of them," Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid told NPR regarding this particular deal. "And I think we're going to start seeing more and more deals come through because they realize they can do this and do it the right way."

Your Disney+ experience is about to get way more interactive

What Happened: So, it looks like Disney is planning to completely overhaul Disney+, in maybe the biggest shake-up since it first launched. And the big new idea? Making it interactive. CEO Bob Iger just announced on the company's Q4 earnings call that it's going to start mixing in AI-powered, short-form videos made by users. (Yes, you read that right.) It's also adding game-like features thanks to its big partnership with Epic Games. Iger's vision is that you will soon be able to create and share your own AI clips based on Disney's worlds. Think about making your own Frozen short or a custom Marvel battle scene, all just by using its new AI tools. He didn't name names on which AI companies it's working with, but said it's in "productive conversations" to build this stuff while still (of course) protecting its copyrights. Why Is This Important: You have to understand, this is a massive pivot for Disney. This is the company that famously keeps its creative control under lock and key. Now, it's actually inviting fans to come in and co-create inside its most iconic worlds. If it doesn't mess this up, Disney+ could completely change from a streaming service into a wild, AI-powered creator platform. It's basically its way of taking on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and even OpenAI's Sora 2 (which already lets you type a prompt and get a movie scene). Why Should I Care: What's this actually mean for you and me? It means if you have Disney+, you're about to go from just watching stories to making them. Ever wanted to animate your own Toy Story short? Or build a new scene in Arendelle? It sounds like, pretty soon, that could be as simple as just typing what you want to see. This is the biggest signal yet that Disney is taking AI seriously, not just as a special effect, but as a whole new way for you to get involved. Recommended Videos What's Next: So, when can you try this? Don't hold your breath for a specific date. Disney hasn't given a timeline, and Iger hinted it'll be a slow, gradual rollout. Honestly, how good or big this new "interactive" Disney+ gets will all come down to two things: the deals it cuts with these AI companies, and that classic, tricky balance between letting fans be creative... and its iron grip on its copyrights. We'll see.

Disney+ Will Allow Users to Generate Their Own "Frozen 3" Using AI

Disney is planning to flood its streaming service, Disney+, with user-generated AI slop. During the company's recent earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the streaming service is "in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes" since its inception six years ago, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. Specifically, Iger was referring to what sounds a bit like OpenAI's Sora: a service that allows users to generate AI content on the service. Why wait for the long-awaited sequel to Disney's "Frozen 2" when you can just cook up your own AI-generated take? "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others," Iger said. While plenty of questions remain about how exactly Disney is hoping to roll out the new feature, OpenAI's foray into user-generated AI slop should probably serve as a cautionary tale. The ChatGPT maker has attracted plenty of negative attention with its Sora app, from glaring instances of copyright infringement to users generating highly problematic content. Besides, as the Wall Street Journal reported in August, Disney had already scrapped several AI projects over legal concerns that using AI to clone actors could draw anger and retaliation from human performers and trade unions. Disney's latest gambit is an especially surprising development considering Disney's extensive efforts to protect its own intellectual property. Disney has fought to keep its own intellectual property from appearing in Sora, as Reuters reported in September. Disney also sent a cease and desist letter to Character.AI, accusing it of using its copyrighted characters without permission. Iger claims that the company had "productive conversations" with yet-unnamed AI companies to reach an agreement that would "reflect our need to protect the IP," as per THR. Regardless, Disney will likely also have to double down on content moderation to ensure that the platform remains family-friendly -- which is far easier said than done, as previous failures to implement meaningful AI guardrails, including effective age restrictions, have demonstrated. Iger also hinted at the possibility of integrating a "number of game-like features into Disney+," based on its agreement with video game developer Epic Games. "The opportunity here, we think, is enormous in terms of increasing our engagement with Disney fans across the world," Iger gushed during this week's earnings call. But whether the reality of launching a short-form AI-generated content feature will live up to those lofty promises remains anything but certain. Given the mayhem that has unfolded following OpenAI's launch of its Sora app, Disney will likely have its work cut out to ensure that such a feature won't immediately plunge its streaming service into chaos. It certainly would be far from the first time Disney's IP has been abused with the help of AI on the web. A quick search on Sora reveals a litany of photorealistic renditions of Disney movie clips, among other videos featuring the company's widely known characters.

Massive backlash as Disney CEO says company to embrace generative AI

Recent comments made by Disney CEO Bob Iger have resulted in calls to boycott the streaming service. You'll soon be able to make your own AI content on Disney+ ... and the overwhelming response is that the House of Mouse needs to remember that creative fields are being threatened by the misguided fervour to embrace artificial intelligence. Disney CEO Bob Iger sparked the online backlash in a recent earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2025, saying that the company was going to allow AI-generated content to appear on Disney+. Iger said the company was "in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes - from a product perspective, from a technology perspective" since Disney+ launched in 2019. He added: "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content - mostly short-form - from others". Understandably, Disney fans weren't best pleased - with some fearing that the ongoing proliferation of AI-generative slop will result in job losses, low-quality content and a betrayal of what Disney stands for. Others urged Disney+ subscribers to boycott the platform and head to other animation studios like Dreamworks and Illumination, who have denounced the use of generative AI. One notable reaction was from Dana Terrace, the creator of the Disney animated series The Owl House, who called on viewers to pirate her show. Iger clearly didn't read the room, as creatives have been vocal about the existential threat that the encroachment of AI poses to creative fields. The music industry has seen a great number of fake bands pollute the airwaves, with a new country act recently topping the Billboard charts; an AI controversy erupted earlier this year when a Dutch creator debut an AI "actress" named Tilly Norwood; and the internet was swift in condemning Coca-Cola for using generative AI to create a visual nightmare of a Christmas ad. It seems there's no stopping some from sleepwalking into a creative dystopia, and any hopes that viewers / listeners can distinguish AI slop from true artistic expression is dwindling. Indeed, a recent global study conducted by French streaming service Deezer and research firm Ipsos found that a whopping 97 per cent of people "can't tell the difference" between real music and Ai-generated tracks. More reassuringly, the survey did find that only 19 per cent said they felt that they could trust AI, while another 51 per cent said they believe the use of AI in music production could lead to "generic" sounding music.

Disney CEO says AI is an 'engagement engine' and Disney+ is soon gonna be crammed to bursting with it

Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company's Disney+ streaming platform is about to undergo "the biggest and the most significant changes from a product perspective" since its 2019 launch and, surprise surprise, it's all about AI. Iger was speaking on Disney's quarterly earnings call this Thursday (thanks, Variety) and, in the context of Disney+ merging with Hulu, went into the platform's future with AI-based games and user-generated content (UGC). Disney+ should be "a portal to all things Disney," said Iger, and "with the deployment of AI" it can be used "as an engagement engine for people who want to go to our theme parks, want to stay at our hotels, want to enjoy our cruises, our cruise ships. And obviously, there's a huge opportunity for games." In one way this is just Disney being Disney: the entertainment giant already offers an incredibly vast and varied catalogue with countless world-famous brands, and ever since the original Disneyland has offered its most devoted fans that wraparound experience of a fantasy vacation. "There are great opportunities in terms of our collection of data and our mining of data," a breathless Iger told analysts. (Bob, you're not supposed to say that part out loud.) "And I'd say above all else, there's phenomenal opportunities to deploy AI across our direct-to-consumer platforms, both to provide tools that make the platforms more dynamic and more sticky with consumers, but also give consumers the opportunity to create on our platforms." So this is twofold. First there's Disney's $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games. Iger says that most of the fruits of this investment "will largely be on their platform", ie the Epic Games Store, but it also "gives us an opportunity to integrate a number of game-like features into Disney+." Iger didn't detail what those would be, though a variety of casual-style games featuring Disney brands seems the obvious starting point, because then he got onto UGC and AI with the example of a user creating their own version of the character Stitch. "The other thing that we're really excited about that AI is going to give us the ability to do is to provide users at Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user generated content and to consume user generated content, mostly short form from others." The Dumbo in the room is that Disney is already engaged on another front against AI: the company is notoriously litigious over, or if you prefer protective of, the use of its copyrighted works. And AI companies have been using them. Disney took legal action earlier this year, alongside NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, to sue AI companies Midjourney and MiniMax, seeking both compensation and injunctions against using its IP. The above may well be because Disney has other irons in the fire, with Iger saying the company has had "interesting conversations with some of the AI companies, and I would characterize some of them as quite productive conversations as well, seeking to not only protect the value of our IP and of our creative engines, but also to seek opportunities for us to use their technology to create more engagement with consumers. And we feel encouraged by some of the discussions that we're having." One wonders what the outcome of such discussions would be. Disney IPs available in a very limited sense on the AI platforms that play ball? External LLMs taking their users into the Disney ecosystem to do so? While, presumably, the AI companies that don't agree to a deal get the Disney lawyer treatment. Iger didn't name any firms that Disney was in discussion with. "I'm hopeful that ultimately we'll be able to reach some agreement with the industry or companies," he said, that'll "reflect our need to protect the IP." Some of what Iger's talking about is, as these things go, unremarkable. Essentially minigames and shortform video generators featuring beloved characters. That whole overarching goal of soft-locking users into the Disney+ ecosystem by going all-in on engagement though... that's one of the problems that existing AI models have run into and you wonder if, in some extreme scenario, we're going to end up with Disney die-hards who think they're talking to Walt as a machine god through the telly. Tell you what I'd like, Bob: can AI create a proper ending for Alien Earth season one please?

Disney explores AI tools for fan made content on Disney+

The company has not disclosed which AI partners it is working with or what specific tools might launch. Disney CEO Bob Iger discussed potential collaborations with AI companies on November 13 to enable user-generated content on Disney+ for increased subscriber engagement. During a Thursday earnings call, Iger indicated that Disney is exploring methods to make the Disney+ streaming service more interactive and customizable for users. He suggested Disney is in discussions with artificial intelligence companies regarding tools that could permit subscribers to create and share their own content using Disney's intellectual property (IP). Iger stated, "AI is going to give us the ability to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content." Disney+ did not provide further details on the nature of these creative tools or the tech companies involved. AI remains a concern within the entertainment industry, with several companies, including Disney, involved in lawsuits against AI entities for copyright infringement. Iger, acknowledging this, stated that conversations with potential AI partners focus on enabling new fan engagement forms while safeguarding against IP dilution or misuse. He added, "It's obviously imperative for us to protect our IP with this new technology." Other companies are also re-evaluating the relationship between audiences and entertainment. Elizabeth Stone, Netflix's chief technology officer, discussed future entertainment trends at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. Stone predicted, "The future of entertainment is likely to be even more personalized, even more interactive, even more immersive." Netflix's experiments in this area include an interactive element for the reboot of the talent competition Star Search, launching next year, where viewers can vote from their devices to influence contestant advancement.

Disney+ Is About To Let Users Make AI Slop Of Its Characters

It shouldn't be surprising that Disney, the company that has become willing to degrade its boldest, most artistic endeavors for profit by churning out unnecessary sequels and bland live-action remakes, is talking to AI companies about letting fans make endless user-generated slop of their properties on Disney+. And indeed, the company that has changed IP law to keep Mickey Mouse out of the hands of the masses is now apparently doing just that. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO Bob Iger said in the company’s latest earnings call that it is “in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes â€" from a product perspective, from a technology perspective â€" since [Disney+] launched.†Part of this is a licensing agreement with Fortnite developer Epic Games to add “a number of game-like features†to the streaming service, and the other is working with unnamed AI companies to allow subscribers to create short-form video content based on Disney properties. “The other thing that we’re really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content â€" mostly short-form â€" from others,†Iger said. If you hear that and immediately think of how such an opportunity would obviously be exploited by people who want to make explicit or crude videos featuring Mickey Mouse and the rest of Disney's characters, Iger says that the company is seeking an arrangement that would “reflect [Disney's] need to protect the IP.†Good luck, bub. I expect the Zootopia stans to make short work of whatever safeguards you try to put on this garbage, and we’ll see Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps making out within the first hour. It’s pretty damning that Iger uses the words “content†and “consume†when talking about these hypothetical AI slop videos, because that’s all AI-generated videos are: time-wasting, artless content meant to be consumed and discarded. For a company that has been so particular about how its characters are used in the past, this is such a bald-faced heel turn. Disney’s films and characters have been such a major part of pop culture for so long because the company has always been pretty stringent about how its characters were used or portrayed, which made the brand synonymous with quality control (just ask anyone who works at a Disney park about the rules they have to follow in-character), so just letting the reins loose for cheap slop is a real mask-off moment for the company’s priorities.

Disney Plus to start letting subscribers create user-generated AI content, CEO Bob Iger reveals, and Disney is "really excited" about it

The House of Mouse has had "productive conversations" concerning the tech Subscribers of Disney Plus will soon be able to generate videos for the platform using AI, according to CEO Bob Iger. He mentioned plans for such features in an earnings call for the year's end, as part of agreements between tech providers and the House of Mouse. Disney Plus is due to see "the biggest and the most significant changes" to the service since launching in 2019, Iger revealed, per The Hollywood Reporter. These are "from a product perspective, from a technology perspective," and will involve allowing users some way to make and share videos. "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney Plus with a much more engaged experience," Iger adds. "Including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content - mostly short-form - from others." Apparently, there've already been "productive conversations" between Disney and some companies trading in generative-AI software, and Iger's hoping to find a way of incorporating these add-ons that reflects "our need to protect the IP." This is really just an evolution of the corporation's existing precedent, as Marvel show Secret Wars came under fire for using AI assets in the opening credits. Iger's comments are already causing backlash. "Unsubscribe from Disney Plus," Dana Terrace, creator of Disney original The Owl House, posted on X/Twitter. "Pirate Owl House. I don't care. Fuck gen AI." Sounds like you'll soon be able to make your own janky, terrible looking Mickey Mouse or The Lion King film for others to gawk at. How this is all rolled out, and to what ends it achieves, remain to be seen.

Disney+ to Get AI Content Creation and Game-Like Features, Confirms CEO Bob Iger

We don't have a specific date when these upgrades will roll out on Disney+. Disney+ launched in 2019, and since then, it has given the fandom plenty of reasons to stick with it. Be it the television shows or movies of the biggest franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, Disney projects, or original hits like The Mandalorian and Moon Knight, the streaming platform has something for every audience. Recently, on the September quarter earnings call, Bob Iger teased an upgrade that will certainly take Disney+'s popularity to a new level. For the time being, Disney+ is a streaming platform that lets audiences enjoy their favourite films and television shows. However, it seems Bob Iger wants something more for those loyal fans while also attracting the new ones. Reportedly, he recently confirmed that the platform will soon get Game-like features and AI content. The CEO wants the global audience to experience every element of Disney. For instance, he wants them to enjoy the Disney theme parks and restaurants. "There's an opportunity to use it as an engagement engine for people who want to go to our theme parks, want to stay at our hotels, want to enjoy our cruises, our cruise ships." The AI upgrade will also give users the opportunity to create clips of their favorite Disney projects, such as Frozen or other Disney movies or series. They will also be given the freedom to create short animated projects within the app. "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others." Iger also confirmed that he, along with the company's Executives, has recently spoken with some of the most prestigious AI companies; he hasn't disclosed their names, though. On the other side, the company has made a significant investment in Epic Games. So, the platform will soon add some mini-games, or at least some game-like features. We don't have any major details about this upgrade or a specific date when the upgrades will roll out on Disney+ at the moment. It seems the streaming platform is all set to outsmart the competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime. But let's not raise our hopes until the upgrades are made available for us to experience.

Disney want to create AI tools to allow people to make their own Disney short-films

The idea of letting AI create our films, games, and music has been a hot topic for a long time. AI can undoubtedly do most of those things, but everything it has learned is based on what others have created, and many believe that it is therefore incapable of doing new and inventive things - but rather, in the long run, only modifying the work of others. That's why there's a lot of skepticism about so-called generative AI, but one company that doesn't seem particularly opposed to it is Disney. They're currently exploring how they can use it in a variety of ways, and in their latest quarterly report (thanks, The Hollywood Reporter), we learn that this includes letting users create their own Disney content and share it with others. CEO Bob Iger explains the thinking behind this: "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others." Disney is known for fiercely protecting all its brands and rarely allowing others to use them. But as long as we do it on their platform, they have no problem with people coming up with all sorts of things using their brands. It seems likely that we can look forward to a future where social media is flooded with videos featuring Donald Duck, the Toy Story crew, and Wreck-It Ralph being overused to death while they wreak havoc in videos that the creators themselves think are the funniest thing since sliced bread.

Disney's AI Gamble Is Riskier Than You Think

Why a Top Hollywood Exec Became an AI Evangelist: A "Tidal Wave" Is Coming For as long as there has been technology, there have been attempts to let ordinary people shape stories with it. The proto-interactive 1960s project The Sumerian Game allowed users to make choices in an ancient setting that a system could then react to and incorporate. During the 1990s, developers began working on Facade, in which a player could talk to characters in conflict and, with help from an early form of AI, alter the characters based on what was said. And in the 2010s, a company called Interlude allowed people to change dozens of "channels" on a video for Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," shifting the story with it; a few years later, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch would expand the concept to feature form. But something new brews now. Unlike past efforts, which required a large investment of money and professional know-how -- the everyday "shaper" was always working within the boundaries that credentialed programmers set up for them -- the current AI models dangle a more subversive idea. In this new system, anyone can initiate a take on the story, in any direction, thanks to models trained on millions of pieces of media. The programmers have left the building, and the guardrails have fallen from its scaffolding. It is this scenario that Disney chief Bob Iger sketched out when he revealed Nov. 13 that the company would soon bring generative AI to Disney+ for subscribers to use, presumably in (on?) Disney+ movies and TV shows. "User-generated content," as he quaintly put it, would land on the platform in the near future. Given how Sora 2 has been showing the ease with which known personalities and moments can be recast -- just a rough prompt yields a passably coherent minute of video -- Iger's promise hardly seemed idle. The number of adults even over the age of 65 who have heard "a lot" about AI has doubled since 2023, according to a new Pew Research study. If Disney has its way, many of them, along with their younger co-subscribers, will be using it too. The country's biggest pure-play entertainment firm saying it will unleash AI tools on its nearly 200 million global streaming customers (whether using its own tech or someone else's) marks a seismic moment. In 2017, Iger announced, years after Netflix began eating his lunch, that it would try to grab back some of the sandwiches. Thus Disney+ was born. With this AI announcement, the company signaled it won't make the same mistake twice, becoming the first major entertainment firm to go all in on AI personalization. Any illusion from Disney's ongoing lawsuit with Midjourney that it was skeptical of AI has been washed away; what it's skeptical of is not controlling the AI itself. We shouldn't be misled by the length of these clips, either; Iger cited the play as "mostly shortform." He was partly hedging on a tech not yet evolved (AI starts to fumble continuity after a minute or two). But mostly he was trying to cast the move in TikTokian terms -- a rubric audiences understand and Wall Street craves. In truth, there is no reason these offerings won't take a variety of formats. Professional shortform content pales financially compared with the longer stuff, and so as the technology gets better, the videos will almost certainly get longer. On one hand, of course, this is the next step on an inevitable escalator to the level of hyper-personalized automated content. But on the other hand, a certain irony ripples though the move. Just six years ago, Disney touted massive spends on original content for its new streaming service, and so it can seem strange to hear Iger offer as his selling point the idea that you could now rip it up. The consequences of this AI video moment go well beyond Disney. We are slowly becoming accustomed, cringey viral video by cringey viral video, to the idea that stories and personalities are not fixed entities, there to be interpreted as one likes but little else. Instead, AI companies condition us to think of them as far more malleable. However loathsomely some use the tech, to have Martin Luther King Jr. give a racist speech or place Stephen Hawking in an MMA ring, as two grotesque Sora spectacles had it recently, it still accomplishes something sneakily subconscious: instilling the belief that well-established narratives don't have to remain static. We can switch them up at will. In fact, OpenAI makes it look fun. Disney's challenge is how to port this mindset to established properties. It seems cool to watch the Star Wars movies with faces grafted on to Darth and Luke or to drop a lightsaber battle into the Grand Canyon or your living room. But studios also face a challenge: These stories are so fixed in our consciousness that altering them can feel ick (as an online backlash to the announcement suggested) or at least uninteresting; better to use AI to create new concepts and stories. In which case, of course, we don't need Disney at all. The Hollywood C-suite recognizes this giant matzo ball at the center of the Great AI Promise and is here to reassure Wall Street that what audiences will want to use AI for is in fact to toy with "existing IP," or what ordinary people call our cultural memory. "AI is going to give us the ability ... to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content," Iger told investors on a recent conference call. He may be right. But the full appetite has yet to be proved. For all the drama attending the AI announcement, it remains deeply unclear how people will use it. Will we deploy the tech to create new endings, alternate scenes, fresh sequels or even entirely new story content that eschews the professionals? Or are we heading to a world that's a lot like this one, of quick memes and inside jokes, of personal adornment and cameo-ized appearances, only now steroidal thanks to AI? Nobody knows, and, like the tech companies' own relationship with their models' inner workings, nobody seems to want to know. Better to just do it and see what happens.

Disney+ wants to let subscribers create AI animations

Disney has a difficult relationship with generative AI art. While it's been reported that several Disney attempts to use AI were abandoned over legal issues, and LucasFilm's AI Star Wars movie was just embarrassing, the company's also been pursuing legal action to protect its IPs from AI image generators. Yet, now it seems the animation giant might be about to sacrifice its assets to AI itself. The company's CEO has revealed that it's talking to AI companies about letting fans make user-generated AI content that they would be able to consume and share with others on Disney+. As cited by The Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO Bob Iger told people on the company's full-year earnings call that Disney+ is "rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes. Part of this is a licensing agreement with Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, to add game-like features to the streaming service. But Iger also revealed that the company is working with AI companies on plans to allow subscribers to create their own short-form video content based on its IPs. "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others," he said. He didn't name the AI companies involved, but the idea immediately brings to mind the cases we've seen of crude content and controversial content created using copyrighted IPs in various AI image and video generators - something that Disney has been trying to prevent. Iger said Disney had held "productive conversations" with several developers and hoped to reach an agreement that would "reflect our need to protect the IP." Considering how AI developers, from Google to Meta and xAI, have struggled to implement comprehensive controls over the output of their AI image generators, that might prove to be challenging. Just last month, the Motion Picture Association wrote to OpenAI to complain of Sora 2's copyright infringements after people generated AI videos of things like a Nazi SpongeBob SquarePants and ads for 'Epstein Island' children's toys. That makes the idea of Disney promoting user-generated AI video directly on its own platform seem a strange move for a company that has been so protective about how its characters are depicted. An in-house Disney+ AI generator may be easier to control than a general public model, but it could still be difficult to prevent all the forms of misuse that could emerge, while the sheer existence of infinite user-generated content could also water down the value of Disney's characters.

Disney+ to Allow User-Generated Content Via AI

Don't want to wait until 2027 for Frozen 3? Soon, you may be able to make your own. On the company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings conference call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Disney+ is "in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes -- from a product perspective, from a technology perspective -- since we launched the service in 2019." Changes will include games -- or at least "a number of game-like features" -- on Disney+ through its agreement with Epic Games, he said. (The Epic Games deal is actually more about Disney IP being used on Epic's platform.) And there will also be gen-AI short-form user-generated content (UGC) on Disney+ in the future. "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others," Iger continued. It sounds a bit like Disney plans to encroach on Open AI Sora's territory. (Or maybe it will just use Sora 2...) A bit later in the call, Iger said that Disney had "productive conversations" with unnamed AI companies, and that he hoped the studio giant could reach an agreement that would also "reflect our need to protect the IP." You can't let Lilo & Stitch get into the wrong hands. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Disney to request more information on its Disney+ gen-AI UGC plans, but we did not immediately receive a response.

Disney+ Will Soon Feature AI-Generated User Content - IGN

Disney boss Bob Iger has said the company's streaming service will soon allow subscribers to create and view AI-generated content. Speaking during the company's latest earnings call, Iger said Disney+ would change to also host user-generated content for the first time, in a step that looks set to open the floodgates for fans keen to make their own creations featuring the likes of Darth Vader, Iron Man and characters from Frozen. "[We're] in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes -- from a product perspective, from a technology perspective -- since we launched the service in 2019," Iger said, per The Hollywood Reporter. While the exact details are still to be announced, Iger suggested Disney+ subscribers would be able to generate and share content including short-form videos, and that it was currently having "productive conversations" with AI companies to balance user freedom with the need to "protect the IP." "The other thing that we're really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content -- mostly short-form -- from others," Iger continued. Only last month, the launch of OpenAI's Sora 2 generative video app saw it flooded with AI versions of Disney characters, Pokémon and other licensed properties -- until the platform began clamping down on copyright-infringing material. Popular videos included examples of Mario and Pikachu in X-Wings or holding lightsabers -- something that likely raised eyebrows at Nintendo and Disney. But while Nintendo has warned it would take "necessary actions against infringement of our intellectual property rights", Disney appears ready to let fans create their own videos with Anna and Elsa -- as long as they're officially licensed, and said fans are paying Disney+ subscribers. In September, the famously litigious The Pokémon Company formally responded to the use of Pokémon TV hero Ash Ketchum and the series' theme tune by the Department of Homeland Security, as part of a video showing people being arrested and handcuffed by law enforcement agents. "Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content," a spokesperson told IGN, "and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property." Other changes coming to Disney+ will include "a number of game-like features," Iger suggested, without explaining further. Disney previously signed a $1.5 billion deal with Fortnite maker Epic Games that will see a major new Disney mode added to the game, and likely allow creators to begin building their own games using Disney assets. Image credit: Disney