Midjourney Files Motion to Compel Studios' Internal AI Records

Midjourney filed a motion to compel Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to disclose their internal use of generative AI tools, TechCrunch reported. The filing challenges a prior court ruling that limited discovery to AI outputs that reached consumers.

Disney and Universal sued Midjourney last year, alleging the company’s image-generation models produced unauthorized images of characters including Bart Simpson and Darth Vader. Warner Bros. filed its own suit several months later.

Midjourney maintains that training its models on copyrighted images qualifies as fair use. The startup contends the current limitation lets the studios “cherry-pick only those documents they believe support their market harm claims while depriving Midjourney of documents that would support its defenses,” TechCrunch reported.

Midjourney also seeks all prompts the studios entered into its system and the resulting outputs, not merely those tied to the allegedly infringing images.

The company states that evidence of internal AI use for storyboarding or content ideation would demonstrate an industry custom of training on unlicensed material. Midjourney argues the withheld documents would reveal whether the studios are doing internally what they are suing Midjourney for doing.

” He stated the studios “do not seek to stop AI technology or even shut down Midjourney’s business,” but instead want the company to cease copying their movies and TV shows and creating unauthorized derivative works featuring their characters.