Animation : Disney making $1 billion investment in OpenAI by Cyrus Sales

Cyrus Sales

Disney making $1 billion investment in OpenAI

The Walt Disney Co. just announced a $1 billion equity investment into OpenAI — and they’re opening the doors for creators to generate videos featuring Disney’s copyrighted characters directly inside Sora.

For anyone working in animation, VFX, storytelling, or content creation… this is huge. We’re officially entering an era where major studios are not just acknowledging AI tools — they’re partnering with them and making their IP accessible within these ecosystems.

OpenAI’s Sora already lets users generate short videos from simple text prompts, and Disney stepping into that space raises a lot of possibilities… and a lot of questions.

As creators, what do you think this means for the future of animation and filmmaking?

Does this empower independent artists, or does it blur the line between studio-produced and AI-generated content?

Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/11/disney-openai-sora-characters-video.html...

Maurice Vaughan

I think it's bad for animation and filmmaking, Cyrus Sales. I think it's gonna cost people more jobs and opportunities, do more damage to the environment, and blur the line between studio-produced and AI-generated content. Disney should be against AI in storytelling, animation, and filmmaking, not partnering with it.

Dwayne Williams 2

Cyrus Sales I think it will benefit creators in the first couple of years while studios figure out how to use it properly and still need skilled people to guide and shape the output. After that, I worry it turns bad, with studios limiting roles to a small group to maintain the systems and relying on AI instead of creators. It feels like a short-term opportunity that could lead to long-term replacement.

Mark Deuce

I love using Ai as a tool but not to create scripts and films Everything will be based on how good your prompts are..

Chase Carmichael

I read the story through the Disney Food Blog. It's a nice idea though. It could help make innovations of it.

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