Charition.ai said Tuesday that the studio removed Disney characters from the chatbot platform after the studio asked the developer to stop using copyrighted characters.
The Burbank, California studio sent a halt letter to Character.ai, according to a copy of the letter obtained and reviewed by NBC News.
“In summary, letters. AI has chosen to systematically recreate, monetize and misuse Disney characters protected by Disney characters and trademarks.
A Disney spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Axios was the first to report news of a letter sent to Charition.ai by a law firm representing Disney.
In that statement, a Characher.ai spokesperson said, “The right shoulder is responding promptly to requests to remove any content that we report.
Founded in 2021, the California-based chatbot startup offers what is called “personalized AI.” It offers a selection of interacting ready-made or user-created artificial intelligence characters, each with distinct personalities. Users can also customize their own chatbots.
“Frozen”, Moana (the title character from “Moana”), Ego Peter Parker, Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker, and Star Wars villain Darth Vader were surprised by the user-made Disney character chatbot.
“Some of these characters are original works, and some characters are inspired by existing characters that people love,” a character spokesman said. “It's like fanfiction, but it's interactive.”
It appears that most bots resembling Disney copyrighted characters have been removed on Tuesday evening when NBC News searched for one of these names on the platform.
Some characters previously available started to return error messages saying “Something went wrong. Please refresh or try again later.” The characters were no longer available after that.
“We want to partner with the industry and right-wingers to ensure that our characters can be brought to the platform,” the character spokesman said. “Our goal is to create control, engaging, revenue-generating experiences for IP owners from deep fandom of characters and stories, and expand their reach using new interactive formats.”
Artificial intelligence continues to be Hollywood's obsession. Industry leaders say that film and television use is gradually becoming mainstream. This is because many filmmakers are partnering with evolving AI tools and AI companies to explore ways to use technology in content creation.
However, rapidly evolving technology has sparked concern among creatives. In 2023, while writers and actors attacked the studio, creatives sought assurance that their work would not be replaced by technology.
A small number of copyright holders, including authors, news outlets and music labels, sued tech companies such as Openai, Microsoft and Anthropic for misuse of content in AI training.
Currently, Studios appears to be taking a stronger stance on copyright infringement and AI models.
Disney, Universal and Warner Bros Discovery sued China's Minimax for copyright infringement this month, Reuters reported, claiming that the company's image and video generation service was built from intellectual property stolen from the studio. (Comcast is the parent company of NBCuniversal, which owns both NBC News and Universal.)
Also this month, Warner Bros Discovery became the latest studio to sue Midjourney, accusing AI companies of building their businesses around mass theft of content. Disney and Universal filed similar charges in a lawsuit filed in June against the company.
Several AI companies, including Character.ai, have also fired fire over the past year as they are affecting younger users. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this month, parents and online safety advocates urged Congress to promote more protective measures around chatbots, claiming that tech companies have designed products to “hook” their children.
Last year, Florida's mother named Megan Garcia sued the character and denounced the chatbot for launching “abusive and sexual interactions.” In May, U.S. District Senior Judge Anne Conway rejected the argument that the AI chatbot has the right to free speech after the developers of the Charition. The award means that the illegal death lawsuit is permitted to continue for now.
Three additional product liability lawsuits have been filed against this year's characters on behalf of minor users who claim “predatory chatbot technology that has been deliberately designed, deployed and sold,” according to the Social Media Victims Law Center. In one of the suits, the 13-year-old parents claim the character.
In that letter, Disney cited a recent report entitled “Sexual exploitation, manipulation and violence against the character's child account.”
“Charition.ai's violation chatbots are known to be sexually exploitative in some cases or harmful and dangerous to children.
After this month's Congress hearing, Chargeter.ai said it has “invested a huge amount of trust and safety resources” over the past year, including a “parent insight” feature and a notable immunity, to remind users that the bot is not a real person.
