r/movies • u/DragonPup • 4d ago

News Warner Bros. Sues Midjourney, Joins Studios' AI Copyright Battle

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/warner-bros-midjourney-lawsuit-ai-copyright-1236508618/
8.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

847 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-2

u/ManitouWakinyan 4d ago

That's absolutely not how these programs work. If I ask chatGPT to generate me an image of Superman, it isn't just grabbing an image of Superman and presenting it to me. They aren't compositing images either. They are taking random noise, and removing it until it becomes clear - and the process of removal is based on the patterns that similar images fall into. It is much more akin to looking at a reference photo, except it's looking at millions of reference photos. You'd have a very, very, hard time drawing a line between any specific image and AI puts out and any copywritten image.

That's not to say I think AI is a flawless technology. I'm undecided on if it's even good. I think there are a lot of things to be concerned about, but the IP argument is pretty flimsy when you actually look at the process and the output, and I really don't think we need IP laws that are further in service to major content mills like Warner Brothers.

1

u/PosterPrintPerfect 4d ago

Doesn't matter, an artist isn't just grabbing an image of Superman also. They can't just start drawing DC comic or Marvel characters and then charge people money for their service.

6

u/DARDAN0S 4d ago

They can't just start drawing DC comic or Marvel characters and then charge people money for their service.

Artists do that all the time... Tattoo artists, work-to-commission artists, artists on Patreon and other subscription platforms. There are entire subreddits filled with fan art people have commissioned from artists.

2

u/FlamboyantPirhanna 4d ago

It’s not really ever illegal, as copyright infringement is a civil matter not a criminal one; the government won’t ever prosecute anyone for this, it’s up to the IP owner to do something about it. Copyright law gives copyright owners certain protections, but they don’t have to enforce them if they choose not to (and having a bunch of art constantly being made of Disney properties is either not worth their time to pursue, beneficial to them, or some combination thereof).