Universal Pictures now includes legal warnings in the end credits of its films, cautioning AI companies against using its movies for AI training.
The film production company prohibits the use of its films for training AI models.
The warning states the movie “may not be used to train AI.” It includes that the film is protected under US copyright law.
In other regions, the notice references a 2019 European Union (EU) copyright law which allows content creators to protect their work from being used in research.
The company adds that it will carry out “civil liability and criminal prosecution” in the case of “unauthorised duplication, distribution, or exhibition.”
The warning first appeared at the end of How To Train Your Dragon, released in June. It was also included in the credits of Jurassic World Rebirth and Bad Guys 2, which were released in July and August.
AI companies have faced backlash from multiple sectors of the creative industry. Creators raised concerns about AI companies using content without permission to train AI models.
By feeding AI models more content, developers are able to enhance responses and expand the models’ abilities. For example, when a news publisher’s content is used by an AI model, its responses will utilise this information to better answer user questions about news events.
Many news publishers have made agreements with AI companies which allows the content to be used in exchange for a share of the search revenue or a fixed sum. OpenAI has made deals with companies like The Financial Times, Condé Nast, and Vox Media.
Holding AI Developers Accountable
This is not Universal’s first time addressing AI content theft. The company joined Disney in a lawsuit against AI image generation platform Midjourney in June.
Midjourney was sued by the production studios after claims that it created uncanny replicas of Universal and Disney film icons like Star Wars’ Darth Vader and Frozen’s Elsa.
The production companies alleged the AI company continued to disobey copyright laws despite requests to prevent these film elements from being recreated. Disney and Universal are allegedly seeking up to $150,000 from Midjourney in damages.
In August, Midjourney responded with a filing which argued its content usage was fair and did not infringe any copyright laws.
The case is ongoing. Both sides are currently exchanging evidence to support claims, and the film production companies advocate for Midjourney to install blocks on the generation of film content on its platform.
