Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal the details of their AI usage

In an ongoing legal dispute with three Hollywood studios—Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros.—AI startup Midjourney is seeking to compel the studios to reveal details about their own use of AI. The studios sued Midjourney for alleged copyright infringement, noting that its models could generate images of characters like Bart Simpson and Darth Vader. Midjourney argues that training its AI models on copyrighted images is permitted under fair use. The current dispute revolves around documentation during the discovery process. A judge previously ruled that the studios must provide information about their generative AI usage, but only when it led to "consumer-facing" videos and images. In its latest filing, Midjourney seeks to overturn that limitation, arguing it unfairly allows the studios to cherry-pick documents. Midjourney claims the withheld documents would reveal whether the studios are "doing exactly what they are suing Midjourney for doing" behind closed doors, such as developing image-generating AI models for internal use. The startup also argues that the studios should reveal all prompts they used in Midjourney and the resulting outputs, not just those that produced allegedly infringing images. The studios' lead attorney, David Singer, previously claimed Midjourney was on a "fishing expedition" and stated that the studios do not seek to stop AI technology but simply want Midjourney to stop copying their characters without authorization.