Google has removed dozens of AI-generated videos featuring Disney-owned characters from YouTube following a cease-and-desist letter from Disney on Wednesday. The videos depicted Mickey Mouse, Deadpool, and characters from Star Wars and The Simpsons. Many were created using Google’s AI video tool, Veo.
Disney flagged specific YouTube links in its letter and demanded immediate removal. As of Thursday, those links redirected to a message stating, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Disney.” The letter also listed numerous characters for removal from YouTube and YouTube Shorts, including those from Frozen, Moana, Toy Story, Deadpool, Iron Man, Lilo & Stitch, and Winnie the Pooh.
Disney further required Google to implement safeguards preventing its AI tools from generating Disney-owned characters. The studio also demanded that Google stop using Disney characters to train its AI models.
The action came shortly before Disney announced a licensing deal with OpenAI, granting access to 200 of its characters. This agreement allows Sora users to create short AI-generated clips.
In a statement on Thursday, Google affirmed its cooperation: “We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them.” The company added, “More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.”
