Disney, Universal Slam AI Company As 'Bottomless Pit Of Plagiarism' In Scathing Lawsuit

The companies said Midjourney’s "bootlegging business model" is an attack on "the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life."

Disney and NBCUniversal joined forces in the first lawsuit of its kind against the artificial intelligence image company Midjourney on Wednesday, accusing it of copyright infringement.

“We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content,” Kimberly Harris, NBCUniversal’s executive vice president, told CNBC.

The companies’ lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that Midjourney sought “to reap the rewards” of Disney and Universal-copyrighted characters by selling an AI image-generating service “that functions as a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies” of their copyrighted works.

“Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,” the lawsuit reads. “Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing.”

Midjourney did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.