Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden explained more of Disney’s $1 billion bet on OpenAI on Thursday, revealing how the studio plans to protect its beloved characters and the creatives behind them.
“In terms of our premium stories and how we think about AI, either bending the cost curve or helping us to be faster, more efficient, we are approaching all of that together with the actors, the writers, directors, who are our partners and have very strong feelings about what is a uniquely human story and how to protect the contributors in that process,” Walden told journalist Emily Chang on Bloomberg Media’s “The Circuit with Emily Chang.”
When asked if the Disney magic can retain its validity if created by artificial intelligence, Walden insisted, “Disney magic is storytelling, it doesn’t have to be any one form. So I think it is the fundamentals of a story are Disney,” she said. “The technology has evolved rapidly throughout the history of the company.”
Disney’s investment in the tech company will bring its array of characters to generative video platform Sora, a landmark deal that links one of the premier entertainment companies with the industry leader in generative AI.
The three-year deal provides more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters for Sora’s users to create short videos for social media, starting in early 2026. The characters — though not the talent who portray or voice them — will also be available for use for ChatGPT’s image-generation platform, and will include everyone from Mickey Mouse to Iron Man to Elsa.
The pair also discussed other Disney-related matters, including ABC temporarily suspending Jimmy Kimmel back in September over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter Tyler Robinson and his ties to the Republican Party.
Walden said the studio hit pause on Kimmel’s show to take a beat for discussions with the late night host.
“We were thinking about one only thing as we made that decision very close to his show going back up on that Wednesday, and that was, the situation was extremely heated,” she explained. “We wanted to take the temperature down. We didn’t think that was gonna be possible that night, so we hit pause to have conversations with Jimmy. We wanted to resolve the situation in a certain way to protect our employees, to think about our audience.”
“Did President Trump call you or Bob [Iger] or vice versa? Did you get any pressure from the White House?” Chang then asked. “He did not. We did not hear from them,” Walden responded, adding that the issue is “firmly in our past.”
Walden also touched on conversations surrounding her succeeding into the position of Disney’s next CEO.
“Being pit against my colleagues, I don’t appreciate because we have incredible relationships,” she said. “We are a very tight organization. But I have enormous faith in where this company’s going. There is a world class team at this company who is navigating the path into the future.”
