The Alameda Avenue entrance to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, in July 2016.
Disney will bring Ozzy Fox, a kids’ series animated with AI tools, to Disney+ in December, Bloomberg reported. Under CEO Josh D’Amaro, it is also using AI in finance, streaming suggestions and its parks, while still guarding its characters.
Disney, which once sued AI companies over its characters, is now putting the technology to work across the company, Bloomberg reported . In December, it will bring Ozzy Fox, a children’s series animated with AI, to Disney+.
Ozzy Fox was made with French startup Animaj, whose tools turn artists’ drawings and text instructions into 3D animation. It first appeared on YouTube in July, where some viewers called it “ AI slop ” .
The push is led by CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took over this year. A week into his tenure, OpenAI shut down its Sora video app, ending a planned deal for Disney to license its characters to it.
“ We’re being very aggressive about exploring emerging technologies, ” D’Amaro said at a company event this month.
Disney is building an AI tool to automate budget reports and testing AI viewing suggestions with some US Disney+ subscribers, according to Bloomberg. Patent filings describe AI characters that chat with park guests and microphones that hear when rides need repair.
In September, Disney named Character.AI’s chief executive, Karandeep Anand, as its first CTO . It has since bid $20M for some of the assets of the bankrupt chatbot startup, which could one day let Disney+ users talk to characters.
Disney still guards its characters closely. Rather than license them to AI firms, it has signed a deal letting Adobe build AI models on them under its control.
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
